


Countersong

by pip_girl_111



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friendship, Mild Psychological Torture, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Slow Burn, awkward maxson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-06-07 10:33:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 31,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6800263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pip_girl_111/pseuds/pip_girl_111
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nate wasn't the only survivor of vault 111.<br/>Wren leaves the vault desperate to return to her past life, but finds that maybe her life has more importance in 2287.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta read, so I apologise for any mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone interested in this story, I warn you that although I haven't completely given up on it, it won't be updated for the foreseeable future. 
> 
> I've been trying for the past nine months to get back into it and reignite the passion for the story I wanted to tell, but I've been struggling.
> 
> I still have a few chapters in my drafts and I do fully intend to finish it at some point, I'm just not sure when.

Wren hauled another box from the back of her father’s truck and began carrying it towards her new house. The neighbourhood was nice; clean with lots of greenery. The majority of her new neighbours seemed to be outside enjoying the warm weather and all of them seemed pleasant; some offering to help her move boxes, others simply welcoming her to neighbourhood. 

_Quaint,_ Wren decided. Sanctuary Hills was a quaint neighbourhood.

As she entered her house she spotted her mother organising her kitchen.

“Wren, darling, you need to write me a list of food you need, all you’ve got are the basics. I’m cooking a casserole for you, I’m sure you’ll be hungry after moving all those boxes, I don’t know why you didn’t let your father and the boys move them?” she babbled, unable to look at Wren as she riffled through her kitchen.

“Mom, don’t worry. I’ll be fine getting my own food, you remember when I lived on my own while I was training? I learnt, _just about,_ how to survive by myself, and the boys are too busy ‘working’ on my car to help.” She flashed her mother a quick smile before continuing to the bathroom. 

Wren checked herself in the mirror; her long blonde hair was still pulled back in a, mostly neat, ponytail, her skin was flushed from moving boxes and the sun had caused a spattering of freckles to appear across her nose and cheeks, but overall she still looked presentable. She brushed back a few stray strands of hair, neatened her makeup and walked back to the truck.

As she approached, she could see her brother talking to what she assumed was one of her neighbours.

“So are the Ellwoods moving to Sanctuary Hills?” the man asked. Wren recognised the voice almost instantly and began brushing dust and dirt off her dress as she made her way quickly round the truck.

“No, just Wren... Speak of the devil,” her brother replied as she came into view. 

Nate Peters was classically good looking, with a defined jaw, high cheekbones and dark blue eyes. Even when Wren had first met him as a new recruit for the military 6 years ago, with a buzz cut and dirty army fatigues, he still looked like an old Hollywood film star. Now though, his dusty blond hair had grown longer and he'd styled it neatly out of his face. He was wearing suit trousers and a shirt, making him look the kind of handsome that made Wren’s stomach drop and her mouth go dry. Nevertheless, no matter how good looking he was, he was still Nate and she’d missed him.

He smiled at her as she ran at him, launching her arms around his neck.

“Hey Ellie.” Nate squeezed his arms around her waist before setting her back down on the ground. “You never told me you were moving here.”

“How could I? You moved and never told me your new address! I didn’t even know _you_ lived here.” They’d lost contact a little over a year ago, but gossip had reached her that he was married now. “How’s the wife?” she asked with a smirk, wanting to find out if the rumours were true.

Nate paused, “and child... Shaun, he’s 3 months old,” he clarified when Wren stared blankly. “I can’t wait for you to meet them; you’ll love them both I’m sure.”

Her stomach flipped slightly at the revelation and invitation, but she regained her composure quickly and replied, “well my mom’s made a casserole big enough to feed the entire neighbourhood so you’re welcome to come round for some.”

“Oh great, you need any help moving boxes?”

“No, I have 2 brothers and my father here for that,” Wren answered thrusting a box into her brother’s arms and grabbing one for herself. “I’ll give you a shout when the casserole’s done.”

“Later Ellie. It’s really good to see you,” he added giving her a quick squeeze around the shoulders before jogging back across the road to his house.

Wren turned back to see her brother smirking at her.

“ _Oh later Ellie, love of my life, angel of my world,_ ” he chided before bumping her arm with the box and walking towards the house.

“Shut up. That box needs to go in the bedroom on the left. The left!” she shouted after him, lingering at the truck to stare at the house Nate had disappeared into. 

Married was one thing, but Wren had never expected Nate to be able to leave the army long enough to even consider having a child. Yet there he was, living in her quaint neighbourhood as a civilian.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------

Wren and Nate met in the middle of the road, both heading to each other’s houses.

“What the FUCK is going on Nate?” 

“This is it, we need to get to the vault now,” Nate replied, calm and collected as always. “Nora, lets go!” he called back to the house. His wife emerged from the house trying to soothe a crying Shaun.

“He won’t stop crying Nate!” Her voice was desperate and scared, and she swung her arms desperately trying to pacify her son. 

Wren walked over to her and placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on her arm. “Let’s just get up to the vault, he’ll calm down once we’re inside and away from the noise.” She tried to smile, but she knew Nora would see straight through it.

“You’re right, let’s go.” _Maybe not._ she thought to herself as they took off running up the hill towards the vault, passing soldiers in power armour and residents as they went.

The vault was fenced off and a man with a clipboard stood firmly in the way of the only entrance, arguing with a group of people. Wren glanced at Nate, worried that they weren’t going to be let in, but before she could say anything, Nate shouted ahead. “We’re on the list; Peters family and Miss Ellwood.” 

The official paused and looked down his clipboard. Ignoring the shouting and cries from around them, he spoke calmly, “Peters family, go on through.” Nate and Nora ran past the man through the gate. “Miss Ellwood wait here.” He placed a hand between himself and Wren and moved back to block the entrance. He kept his eyes down and continued looking through the papers on his clipboard.

Nate and Nora hovered just inside the gate, clearly torn about leaving Wren. 

She tried to steady her anxiety and managed to calm herself enough to shout to them that they should carry on. “I’ll be there in a second,” she promised more for her own benefit than theirs. 

“First name?” Wren snapped her attention back to the man in front of her and tried to ignore the shouts of the vault-tec employee to her right.

“Erm, Wren.” He flicked to another page on his clipboard as Wren shifted her weight between each foot, desperately trying to keep calm.

“Ah, Miss Ellwood, apologies, please continue through.” Wren let out the breath she'd been holding and sprinted to catch up with Nate and Nora who were now stood on a large platform at the top of the hill, along with a number of their neighbours. She paid no attention to her surroundings as she teared towards the platform, only vaguely aware of shouting, and military vehicles moving around her.

“I told you they’d let her through, no-one gets in the way of an Ellwood,” Nate joked, laughing meekly and looking at Wren for a witty comeback. Nothing came to her, so she simply flashed them both a quick smile.

“What’s going to happen to all those people outside the gate?” Nora asked, her eyes searching gravely for reassurance that they weren't all going to die. Wren and Nate exchanged a nervous glance, they both knew exactly what was going to happen to everyone that wasn’t in a vault. 

“I love you.” Nate avoided Nora's question, instead pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.

Nate lifted his spare arm for Wren to cuddle under, but before she could move to him, a flash exploded across the skyline, the sky darkened and a fiery mushroom cloud pierced the horizon. The noise was deafening, a metallic burning smell filled the air and although the light was hurting her eyes, she couldn’t look away.

“Why aren’t we moving!” she shouted above the noise as the dust cloud careered across the landscape towards them. 

For the first time ever, she saw Nate look genuinely scared as he pulled her into his side and turned to face all four of them away from the blast. Wren could hear debris hurtling closer as the platform finally began to descend underground. Nate squeezed her closer as the cloud of rubble crashed over the surface where they had been stood mere seconds before, and the lift continued down, taking them to their new life underground. 

 

\----------------------------------------------------

“Nate I have a bad feeling about all this,” Wren whispered as she tugged at the sleeves of her vault suit. It was too tight and short in the arms and legs, and Wren had to wonder whether she’d been given a child’s size. 

“Well, Wren, we don’t exactly have another choice. We nearly died,” Nate hissed, glancing to Nora and Shaun to make sure they hadn’t heard. “There are vaults all over the country, this is no different to any other, everything’s going to be fine. I promise.” He pulled at the shoulder of her suit, “It’s a bit tight.”

“Yeah, I think they gave me a child’s size.” Wren smiled, taking Nate’s cue to lighten the mood.

“Well they probably don’t make adult sizes small enough for people who stopped growing at 13,” he mocked, smoothing the material back down. Nate gave her a half-hearted smile, “Look, Shaun, Nora and I need to head through now. We’ll meet you later,” he pulled her into his chest and gave her a squeeze. “Don’t worry, just promise me you'll do what they tell you.” 

He walked to Nora and they exchanged a few words Wren couldn’t make out before following a vault-tec employee down the corridor in front of them. She stared after them, a little lost now she’d been left alone.

“Miss Ellwood?” A woman’s voice called out.

“Yeah that’s me,” Wren called back putting her arm in the air.

“Brilliant, if you’d like to follow me, we just need to do a few checks before we head further down into the vault.”

They began down the same corridor as Nate and Nora, but before reaching the end, they took a left towards a large mechanical door. The woman fiddled with an intercom and as it buzzed into life she read off a clipboard, “Ellwood, Wren. Female. 22.” 

Wren looked suspiciously at the woman as the door clicked and slid open, but she simply smiled and gestured for Wren to walk through the door. 

She quickly took in her surroundings; this part of the vault seemed slightly darker and unfinished, fuse boxes and generators sat in the open with wires and tools left on show. She looked back to the woman behind her, her mouth was still turned up in a smile, but now it didn’t reach her eyes. 

Wren stopped.

Her stomach became tight and she began to panic again. This wasn’t where Nora and Nate had gone, and not only that, she hadn’t noticed anyone else coming this way either.

Before she could turn back a man in a white lab suit appeared up the small set of stairs in front of her and walked towards her. Her mind started to race, looking for another way back into the main corridor, but there was none.

“Miss Ellwood,” the man held out a hand, waiting for Wren to shake it. She didn’t. “Okay, well if you’d like to follow me.” 

Wren was cornered now, and she had no choice but to walk down the steps towards the small number of large pods that were dotted randomly around the room.

“What are those?” Wren asked pointing to them.

“The pods will decontaminate and depressurise you, then you can head deeper into the vault. Step inside this one here.” He gestured to the pod at the end.

“I... I’m not sure about this,” Wren replied.

“With all due respect Miss, you have no choice. This is the only way to head deeper into the vault.”

“But, we’re already so far underground, how much deeper does it go?”

“Miss, just step into the pod and everything will be explained once you’re in the vault.”

“No." She held her ground. "Explain it now. Why are people being taken in different directions?”

The scientists face tightened and he placed his hand on the small of Wren’s back and pushed her forwards.

“Miss. Get in the pod, you’re getting panicked and you need to calm down,” his voice was low and angry now.

Wren spun away from his hand and pushed him backwards before he could react. “I’m not getting in there until you explain what’s going on!” she shouted. 

The scientist turned to the woman and nodded quickly. Before Wren could respond, each of them had a hold of an arm, and she was lifted off the floor and shoved into the pod. 

The door slammed closed, Wren went cold and everything quickly faded to black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren realises exactly what's going on in Vault 111.

The first time Wren awoke, the same woman and male scientist stood in front of her. She stepped out of the pod, ready to fight, but fell to the floor.

“What the _FUCK_ happened!” she screamed at them. They looked to each other and the woman began making notes on a clipboard.

“Stand,” commanded the scientist. Wren scowled up at him. “I have no time for pleasantries, Miss Ellwood. You aren’t going anywhere until you do as I say.” Wren shakily got to her feet, maintaining eye contact with him. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” she replied.

“Miss Ellwood, answer my questions honestly or we’ll be here all day.”

“A bit shaky.”

The scientist turned to the woman and said in a lower voice, “well that, we can see.”

Wren’s lips pursed as they continued to talk in hushed tones about her. 

“How long were you in the pod?” The scientist turned back to Wren.

“I..." She shifted through what she could remember before she blacked out, trying to gauge a time. "I don’t know. I think I passed out or something, everything went black and then I woke up. So, 10 minutes, maybe. I’m not sure.” She pulled a number from nowhere, just wanting to get away from the scientist as quickly as possible. 

“Interesting. How’s your flexibility?” 

“What?”

“How is your flexibility?” the scientist repeated, emphasising each word. Wren clenched her fists, ready to swing for him, before she remembered what Nate had said; _just do what they tell you._

She took a deep breath and started with her right arm, pulling it across her body and then working her way down, testing different stretches while the woman continued making notes.

“Pretty much the same as always,” Wren finally replied.

“Good. Now give me your arm,” the man ordered. He placed two fingers on the inside of her wrist and held them there. After what seemed like an eternity, he turned to the woman, “pulse 120. That’s to be expected after the state she was in before and the stretching.” Next, he pulled an old-fashioned blood pressure machine from his inside pocket and turned back to Wren. Without being told, she held out her arm and he slipped the cuff up to her bicep. They stood in silence again and waited. “Blood pressure 130 over 85. Very good, considering.”

The scientist exchanged the blood pressure machine for a stethoscope and placed it on Wren’s chest. He listened for a moment then ordered, “take a deep breath in and hold.” Wren did so. “Now breath out and hold.” 

Wren took the moment of silence to look at the man’s features. He stood around 5’ 8” and was of average build. His hair was dark and cut close to his head and his face was littered with small scars. Wren wondered what he did for a living before getting involved with vault-tec. 

“Breathe in again.” 

Wren sucked in a deep breath, filling her lungs before holding for a second and breathing out. The deep breathing was calming her and she began scanning her surroundings. The way the pods were placed meant that Wren couldn’t see into them, but each of them had been closed so she assumed there were people inside them. She glanced towards the door she had entered through but it sealed and bolted.

“Turn around.” Wren’s attention shot back to him and she rotated to face the pod she’d fell out of earlier. “Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. Hold.”

When he was finished, he removed the stethoscope from her back and Wren made to turn around, but almost instantly, a sharp push sent her tumbling back into the pod and as she spun to get out, the door closed and the world went black once again.

The second time, Wren awoke in a daze. She wondered if the first time had been a dream. The same man and woman were there, only this time they stood so close to her that she couldn’t get out of the pod. Wren’s head was pounding and she followed their instructions without argument. As the two of them stepped back to allow the door to close again, Wren snapped out of her confusion and realised what was going to happen. Before she could begin to panic the cold descended again and she lost consciousness.

The third time Wren was woken up she was greeted by three men, two of them she’d never seen before, the other was the same scientist. The two new men were both tall, well over 6 feet and muscular. They grabbed Wren before she could move and pinned her to the floor. She struggled against them, desperately trying the get her feet flat on the floor for some advantage.

“Stop Wren.” It was the first time the scientist had used her first name and the possible implications made her freeze. He spoke calmly as always, “I’m going to assume you feel okay and you aren’t feeling any stiffness in your joints?” It wasn’t really a question so Wren stayed quiet. “Good.” 

The scientist then continued testing her blood pressure, pulse rate and breathing, using the two larger men to flip her over. Wren could do nothing as they lifted her under the armpits and placed her back in the pod. Before the door closed, she got a good look at the scientist. He looked tired and a little thinner, and it was then that Wren realised that a significant amount of time was passing while she was asleep.

“Please don’t shut me in there again, please!” She begged, but it was too late. The pod closed and she lost consciousness.

Wren stopped keeping track after that. Each time she awoke there were more restraints to stop her from fighting and the scientist was becoming thinner and more bedraggled each time she saw him. 

The last time she awoke, she was still bound in ropes from last time and she tumbled out the pod to the floor. She looked up at the scientist, as awful as her situation was, she found it mildly comforting when he was there by himself. 

“It’s good to see you Wren.” He’d stopped wearing his lab coat a while ago, when it started to hang from his frame, and he always called her Wren now. “You’re the last one.” He knelt to untie her hands and feet, and helped her stand up. He didn’t have to worry about her running away, he knew that that last statement would keep her there asking questions.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Everyone in these pods are dead now. They couldn’t cope with it. But you, you’re something else. Look at this,” he turned his clipboard round and she could see her stats. 

“Despite the repeated stress on your body, you actually seem to be healthier than when we started this. It’s amazing,” he chuckled, his eyes had glazed over and he looked manic, “in all honesty I expected everyone to die. Especially you after the stink you kicked up going in.”

Wren scowled, but took in the information written on the clipboard. Her blood pressure had dropped to a perfect level, her resting pulse was low and her lungs were healthy. She looked up at the scientist who was staring blankly at her. His eyes were hollow with black bags underneath them, his lips were chapped and his skin was deathly pale.

“Well you look like shit,” she spat out. He chuckled and looked at the floor. “Are you not going to do the tests?” Wren finally asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

“No. I only woke you up to tell you everyone was dead and I’ve probably got a couple of weeks before I starve to death,” he chuckled solemnly.

“What?” 

“You’ve been down here about 7 months. Someone was meant to come and evacuate the scientists and staff, but it doesn’t look like anyone is coming,” he glanced up at Wren to see her reaction and was met with a look of disgust, so he simply continued, “we’ve got almost no food left. I’m considering hoping into that pod and freezing myself just so I’ve got a chance, but you wouldn’t know how to fucking work the terminal!” He laughed to himself.

“You’re a fucking piece of shit,” Wren shouted.

“I know. Thing is, even if vault-tec do come, they don’t know what’s going on down here. Don’t know whether I’d be better off just staying where I am, or going with them.” He wasn’t talking to Wren anymore, simply voicing his thoughts out loud. 

“No-one knows I’m here?” she whimpered. 

“Hmm? Oh, no, I’m afraid not.”

Wren glanced around her surroundings, desperately looking for a way out. 

“You can’t get out.” The scientist had spotted her scanning the room and smiled. “Anyway, time you went back to sleep. It’s probably going to be a long one this time. Goodbye Wren.”

“No no no no, please!” 

He pushed Wren backwards, despite being so withered, he was still surprisingly strong and her panicking body failed to co-ordinate itself enough to fight back. She could feel herself slipping into panic, the weight of the scientist’s revelation drowning her. 

This was it. She was going to die. Her heart began beating so fast it hurt and just as her senses began to fade out, the cold mist of the pod dragged her back to unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren gets out of the vault.

Wren fell out of the pod onto her hands and knees, desperately trying to take breaths to calm her pounding heart. She was panicking, her breaths lodging in her throat before they could reach her lungs, the sound of her heart thumping was deafening, but she was vaguely aware of people standing around her.

“Sir, I think she’s having a panic attack,” a distant female voice stated.

“Miss?” questioned another voice, male this time and closer to her, “Miss, you need to sit up and calm down. We don’t mean you any harm.”

Wren registered that the voice wasn’t the scientists and tried desperately to make sense of the words, but it was too late, her vision blurred and before she could follow the instructions the world faded to black and she passed out.

She awoke on a bed, staring at the mechanical ceiling of the vault. She replayed what the scientist had told her the last time she was woken up. _It’s probably going to be a long one this time. Goodbye Wren._ She shot up and flung her legs off the bed, ready to run, but as her feet hit the floor her knees buckled and her vision blurred again. She took a few deep breaths, got to her hands and knees, and readied herself to stand again.

“Miss Ellwood, sit down,” commanded the same voice from earlier. Wren froze, the owner of the voice was standing the other side of the bed. She glanced underneath, but all she could make out from the floor was a large pair of heavy black boots. Not vault-tec. Maybe these were the people the scientist was talking about? Intrigued, she relented and flopped to floor, resting her back against the bed. As she collected her thoughts and tried to remain conscious, she heard the man walking around the bed. 

“You’re in Vault 111. You lost consciousness, so you’ve been moved to a bedroom to rest.” Wren bit back a sarcastic comment, instead choosing, finally, to take a good look at who the voice belonged to. The man was younger than he sounded, with a dark beard and a scar running down his cheek, he looked imposing but not intimidating. When Wren stayed silent the young man spoke again.

“One of our units received intel that there may be some useful technology left in this vault. I dispatched a team almost immediately to investigate.” It didn’t sound like they were there to evacuate anyone. Wren remained silent, unsure whether she was going to be forced back into the cryo pod, but still unable to move heself off the floor. “I have to admit, finding you was the last thing I expected.” He crouched down so he was almost at eye level, and explained in a slightly softer voice, “we found records detailing your experience here, from what we can gather you were part of an experiment Vault-tec never planned, to test the effects of repeated cryogenic suspension on the body.”

“I know that!” Wren spat out. The man’s mouth tightened and he moved as if to stand, clearly taken aback by the sudden outburst. “Well, I... I” she rubbed a hand across her brow, feebly attempting to ease her growing headache, “Who are you? Are you… you’re not here to evacuate the staff? Where’s that scientist? The… the man? How did you know I was there? He told me everyone was dead.”

Silence. She’d overwhelmed him with questions. Wren took a deep breath, taking time to collect her thoughts before adding, “not that don’t appreciate this,” she gestured around, hesitant about what exactly she was thanking him for, “but, I’m really confused, I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t know how long I’ve been here, I don’t…” her eyes began to sting as tears formed and her breathing became erratic.

“Miss Ellwood, you need to try and keep calm.” Wren nodded, bringing her knees to her chest so she could rest her head on them. The man allowed her to take a few deep, shaky breaths before speaking. “I'm Elder Arthur Maxson of the Brotherhood of Steel. The Vault-tec scientists are all dead.” He paused. “From what we understand, you’ve been in this vault for approximately 210 years.”

Wren froze. She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. Her breath completely left her body and before she knew what was happening she burst into tears and fell against Elder Maxson.

 

\-------------------------------------

Instinctively, Arthur wrapped his arms around the woman in front of him. She was small, at least a foot shorter than him, and petite. She had curves that were rare to see now and her skin was pale. She was pretty, but unusual compared to women Arthur was used to seeing. He began slowly rubbing her back, trying to copy what he’d seen some of the mothers do when squires were upset. He wanted to say something, but his mouth had become dry and words escaped him. 

“Thanks,” she pulled back slightly, her face still close to his. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break down completely, but I really don’t know what I’m meant to do now.”

Arthur’s hands lingered a little on her back as he looked at her properly for the first time. Her long hair had a slight wave and hung messily to one side. Her eyes were brown with flecks of green throughout, large and almond shaped, framed by dark, defined eyebrows. Her cheeks were plump and her chin slightly pointed. Her nose was sloped and prominent, leading down to plump lips. The longer he looked, the more difficult it became for him to look away, she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and moved back to lean against the bed.

“Elder Maxson,” he shot up to see who had addressed him. “I think this is for Miss Ellwood.” The scribe held out a pip-boy and Arthur took it from her. She was blonde, like Wren, and undoubtedly good-looking, but she seemed plain compared to the woman in front of him. 

“Thank you Scribe Johnson.” He took the pip-boy and inspected it. There was a handwritten note tacked to the screen, “Wren?” he questioned. Wren looked up at him. “Is that your name?” She nodded. Arthur continued turning the pip-boy in his hands before passing it to Wren. “Is that what you’d rather be called?” Wren nodded again as she took the pip-boy from him. “Apologies, Wren. You were only ever referenced as Miss Ellwood.” He watched her inspect the pip-boy herself, reading and re-reading the note, before placing the computer on her left wrist. She held up her right arm and Arthur helped pull her to standing.

“So what do I call you?” she asked.

“Elder Maxson,” he replied instantly, cringing slightly to himself. She wasn’t Brotherhood, she could call him what she wanted. “You, erm...” he started nervously. _Or Arthur. Whichever suits you,_ is what he wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. He clapped his hands behind his back and instead said, “you are more than welcome to spend some time with the Brotherhood of Steel while you adjust to life in the Commonwealth.” 

Wren smiled, the first smile he'd seen. “Thank you, Elder Maxson,” she said, sitting herself on the corner of the bed and turning her attention to the pip-boy on her wrist.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------

Arthur avoided Wren once they were aboard the Prydwen. He wasn’t sure why, but he was nervous around her. He kept an eye on her from a distance, getting reports on her frequently from Knight-Captain Cade and Knight Evans, who was training her in combat. Wren was fit and healthy, the information they had retrieved from the vault had been accurate, and not only that, she had a healthy immune system, sharp mental abilities and good reflexes. She was skilled with mid-range and short-range weapons and, despite her size, was quickly becoming accomplished at hand-to-hand combat.

The team Maxson had left in the vault returned around a month later after clearing the place of any useful tech. Scribe Johnson knocked on the door to his quarters late on the night they returned.

“Elder Maxson.”

“Scribe,” he answered, looking up from the work he was doing.

“We have reason to believe Miss Ellwood isn’t the only survivor from Vault 111. We’ve searched the entire place and we cannot locate a Mr Peters and his infant son. The cryo chamber he was in seems to have been opened remotely and it appears that the vault itself was opened a few months before we arrived, but nothing seems to have been scavenged. I think it’s safe to assume it was them leaving,” she paused, “I believe they made it out of the vault.” 

Arthur stared at her, trying to process what she had just told him. “Thank you Scribe Johnson. Is that all?”

“Yes Elder. Ad Victoriam, sir.” She saluted before turning sharply and exiting his quarters.

He had to tell Wren. There was every chance that she knew who this was and having them both as members of the Brotherhood would be incredibly beneficial. He decided to tell her the next morning.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------

Wren enjoyed sparing with Knight Evans; he didn’t treat her like a porcelain doll and he wasn’t afraid to tell her straight when she messed up.

“Wren, that was shit,” he said bluntly, as he slammed her to the floor. 

She took a second to regain her breath before replying. “Shut up. You’re twice my size,” she said, still slightly breathless. She pushed herself off the floor and brushed herself down. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail and she was wearing a Brotherhood issue crop top and shorts; standard training gear, but more revealing than she would normally choose to wear. Knight Evans remained on the floor and she was well aware of him watching her walk to fetch a drink. “Asshole,” she joked. 

“Out there,” he pointed down, “there are things a hell of a lot bigger than me and they definitely won’t let you off lightly because you’re good looking.” He smirked at her and she threw a can of purified water at him.

“No, no, no,” she laughed and pointed at him, “don’t make out like you’re going easy on me to make yourself feel better, I pinned you fair and square last time.” She held her hand out and pulled him up, moving closer to him once he was balanced, “best of three?” she asked, still holding his hand.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Elder Maxson had entered the training room so quietly neither of them had noticed.

“Elder Maxson, sir,” Evans replied dropping Wren’s hand and quickly stepping away from her.

“I’d like to speak to Miss Ellwood alone please Knight.”

“Yes Elder.” Knight Evans dropped his head and walked past Wren without looking at her. Wren looked up at Maxson, this was the first time in the month she’d been on the Prydwen that he’d tried to speak to her.

“The team we left in the vault have returned,” he said directly.

“Did they find anything useful?” Wren asked, not entirely sure what he wanted her to say.

“Yes, a great deal actually. But that’s not why I came to speak to you,” he paused, allowing Wren chance to say something. She kept quiet. “I was wondering if you knew a Mr Peters?”

Wren’s heart dropped. Nate. She’d been so overwhelmed with recent events she’d pushed Nate, Nora and Shaun to the back of her mind, not wanting to think of what had happened to them.

“Wren?” 

She backed up to the benches and sat, staring straight ahead.

“Yes, I knew him. I knew him really well. Him and his wife and son lived across the street from me,” tears started to form, “they didn’t go to the same part of the vault as I did.” The words were falling from her mouth now. “Why? What’s happened? Is he…I thought everyone was…”

“Scribe Johnson has informed me that she believes he and his infant son made it out of the vault not long before we arrived. A few months in fact.”

“So they’re alive?” Wren gasped.

“That’s not exactly what I’m saying, I don’t want you to get your hopes up Wren, the Commonwealth is a dangerous place, especially when travelling with a child.”

“But Nate’s a soldier. A good one.” Wren stood up and looked up to meet Arthur’s gaze. “I need to find them.”

“No!” Arthur replied without hesitating. Wren’s face dropped and Arthur faltered a little. “Wren, you’ve progressed tremendously while training, Knight Evans is incredibly impressed, as am I, but fighting in here, in complete safety, is entirely different to fighting out there.” 

“You can’t keep me here forever,” Wren retorted, “I was always going to leave at some point, now is the perfect time.”

Wren watched Arthur carefully. His jaw clenched and his mouth hardened into a straight line. He clearly wasn’t used to people answering back. They both stood in silence, Wren perfectly practised in getting her own way. Arthur cracked first.

“Speak to Proctors Teagan and Ingram before you leave.” Was all he said before turning and heading for the door. 

Wren smiled to herself and called after him, “Ad Victoriam, Elder.” Maxson paused briefly, his shoulders relaxing and Wren chose to assume he was smiling to himself as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a nothing chapter as Wren gets ready to leave the Prydwen

She awoke the next day to find a backpack at the foot of her bed. There was a note pinned to it and Wren smiled to herself as she read it;

_“Wren,_  
_I have provided you with some food rations, a bedroll and sleeping bag to help ease your transition into life in the Commonwealth. You also have as many medical supplies as Proctor Teagan could spare, although I hope you do not find yourself in a situation that requires their use. However, if you do find yourself in any trouble, please do not hesitate to use a vertibird signal grenades, and a vertibird will bring you back to the Prydwen as soon as possible. As it’s approaching winter I have also provided you with a jacket that I hope you will find adequate.  
Please take the time to speak to Proctor Ingram, and Proctor Teagan. _

_I wish you the best of luck in your search,  
Elder Maxson.” _

Wren folded the note carefully and placed it in the backpack. She then inspected the jacket. It was leather and fur lined with a hood, and it fit her perfectly. She folded it back up and pulled on her vault-suit, ready to speak to Proctor Teagan. 

As she walked away from her bed, she noticed her Brotherhood jump-suit and training gear folded neatly underneath. She glanced around to see if anyone was about before stuffing the garments into the backpack, confident that the Brotherhood wouldn't notice their absence, and set off to speak to Proctor Teagan.

“Ahh Miss Ellwood, I have something for you,” Teagan called as he saw her approaching. Wren jogged towards the counter and leant over to see what Teagan was retrieving from the floor. He dumped a large duffel bag in front of her. 

“From Elder Maxson,” he stated.

“What is it?” 

“Just open it, I haven’t got all day Ellwood,” he tried to sound annoyed but Wren noticed him smiling slightly as she unzipped the bag slowly. “You better look after them, as far as I’m concerned you’re essentially robbing me and the Brotherhood,” he added while Wren inspected the assault rifle and 10mm pistol she had pulled from the bag.

“The Brotherhood only use energy weapons, but I’ll be sure to pass the message on to Elder Maxson,” she smirked at Teagan before replacing the guns.

“There’s a few boxes of ammo in there as well.”

“Thank you Proctor,” she grinned. Wren slung the duffel bag over her shoulder and turned to walk away.

“Ellwood!” Teagan called after her, “I have a proposition for you, if you’re interested?”

“That depends what it is,” she replied.

“Well the food stores don’t replenish themselves, so I need legs on the ground to hit up farms in the area. We’ll be requisitioning some of their crops. And, as you’re heading to the ground and likely to be wandering ‘round a few farms, I’d like _you_ to ensure we have full co-operation before we get there. By any means necessary.”

“Any means necessary? You mean by threatening them?” 

“Well, threatening, bribing, intimidation. Whatever,” he clarified.

Wren snorted, “oh yeah, because I look so intimidating.” 

Teagan shrugged, “well you’ve managed to charm The Elder into handing over weapons and supplies, how hard could it be for you to acquire some plants?”

Wren tried to hold back a smile. “Look, as everyone keeps reminding me, I haven’t got a clue what life is like in Boston anymore, I’m hardly going to be a match for a farm full of people who have lived out there their entire lives. I’m not going to be able to threaten anyone into giving me anything. Bribery on the other hand,” she pointed at Teagan, “that I can do.” 

“Atta girl.”

“But,” she added, “I’m leaving this ship with nothing but what’s in these bags, I don’t exactly have anything to bribe someone with.” 

Teagan let out an exasperated chuckle, “how many caps?” 

“How much do you want to spend?” she countered.

“Take this,” he threw a bag of caps onto the counter, “a thousand caps, but they better be the best damn crops I’ve ever seen, and I’d appreciate some change.”

Wren took the caps and saluted before heading to Proctor Ingram. 

“Wren!” Ingram called to her as she turned the corner, “would you like some help?” Wren was struggling to carry both the backpack and duffel bag. Her pack had become laden down with miscellaneous items she had swiped as she made her way through the Prydwen and the duffel bag proved to be an incredibly awkward shape for someone of Wren’s height to carry. 

“Thank you, Proctor. This doesn’t bode well does it?” she half-joked.

“Well I don’t think Elder Maxson would have let you leave if he didn’t think you could cope.” She took Wren’s duffel bag and set it on the floor. “I’ve been asked to give you these,” Ingram handed her an olive jumpsuit, a plain white t-shirt, a set of underwear and a heavy pair of boots, “a change of clothes,” she clarified, “we couldn’t let you leave with only the clothes on your back,” she smiled.

“Thank you,” Wren decided not to mention the clothes she already had in her pack, “I really appreciate it.” She turned her back on Ingram to place them in her bag, being careful to keep everything she’d stolen out of view.

“Take care Wren, I hope to see you back on the Prydwen shorty.”

“Thank you, Proctor.” She nodded and smiled as Ingram placed the duffel bag carefully on Wren’s shoulder.

Wren shrugged the bags into a more comfortable position and set of ready to enter the Commonwealth for the first time in 210 years.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren leaves for Sanctuary

Knight Evans was waiting at the vertibird for her.

“Miss Ellwood.” He nodded at her and helped her onto the aircraft. “You may wish to put on your jacket, it can get rather cold in the air.”

Wren shrugged the bags off her shoulders and put on her jacket. “Miss Ellwood?” she questioned, raising her eyebrows. 

“Yes. Elder Maxson has asked that I make sure to behave appropriately around you at all times.”

She snorted. “Are you joking?”

“Not at all Miss Ellwood, I’m to escort you wherever you wish to start your search, make sure you’re comfortable using your weapons, then return to the Prydwen to continue my duties.”

Wren leaned in to him, “you sound like Maxson,” she whispered. 

Evans looked to the pilot and signalled they were ready to leave, and on cue, the vertibird engine fired into life. “You really think so?” he grinned, the formal bravado disappearing in the privacy of craft. “I’ve been practising. Where are we heading then Wren?”

“Nate and I used to live in a place called Sanctuary Hills, it isn’t… well wasn’t, far from the vault.”

“Got it,” he turned to the pilot, “head up to Sanctuary,” he called.

Wren sat on the floor by her bags and looked at the landscape below her. Derelict, destroyed buildings now stood in the place of the Boston skyline she remembered. She wanted to look away but couldn’t, trying desperately to summon up a picture of the Boston from her time.

This wasn’t what she’d imagined at all. 

She could make out figures moving beneath them; green, monstrous beings that she assumed were the supermutants she’d heard so many stories about. For the first time since leaving the vault, the thought entered her mind that maybe she’d have been better off remaining frozen.

“Everything alright Wren?” Evans asked, snapping her from her morbid thoughts.

“Mmhmm” Wren couldn’t form the words, so she simply nodded and continued staring out the vertibird, wiping away the tears that had begun streaming down her cheeks. Knight Evans sat down next to her and placed an arm around her shoulder.

She tried to speak, but the words got stuck in her throat with a sob and instead she made a strangled chocking noise. Wren tried to play it off as a cough.

“You want to try that again?” Evans chuckled.

Wren laughed, finally finding her words, “I was going to say that you’re meant to be behaving appropriately at all times.”

Evans smiled and took his arm back, “it looks a lot different huh?”

She nodded. “Everyone’s told me that the world’s changed but I suppose I didn’t really believe them until now.” She went back to staring out the veritbird, tears spilling over again.

“Wren, look at me,” Evans commanded. She turned to face him. “You need to accept that this is the world now and deal with it quickly, because you’re going to see a hell of a lot worse once we land.” She nodded, beginning to cry now with full force, taking deep, shaking breaths. “If you keep freaking out, you aren’t going to last long enough to even get close to finding Mr Peters.” He paused for a second, gauging her reaction before adding, “you can do this Wren, you’re just as talented, if not more, than most of the Knights in the Brotherhood, you just need to adjust.”

Wren closed her eyes and breathed deeply until the tears had stopped falling.

“First things first,” Evans stated once she’d calmed down, “you need to sort out these bags.” He stood and opened the duffel bag, “it’s all well and good having weapons but you need to be able to get to them quickly. Come here.” 

Wren stepped towards him. 

“Try and keep your pistol hidden,” he said as he removed the belt from her jacket and buckled it tight around her hips. “Knowing you, you’re going to be using the rifle more often,” he made a motion for her to turn, then tucked the pistol into the makeshift holster, “with this hidden, at least you might be able to gain an element of surprise if you need it.”

“What about the rifle? How do you suppose I carry that?” 

Evans looked around the aircraft and settled back on the duffel bag, he unsheathed a knife from a strap around his thigh and cut the bag strap free, tying it tightly around the rifle and hanging it from Wren’s shoulders. “That’ll do for now.” 

“Am I looking the part yet?” Wren joked.

“Nearly.” Evan’s smiled as he replaced the knife into its holster before unbuckling it and holding it out to Wren. 

The knife handle was intricately engraved with a delicate pattern and it looked like something from Wren’s time.

Evans noticed her inspecting the knife. “It’s been with my family as long as I can remember, it gets passed down to the boys,” he smiled proudly.

“I can’t take this.” She pushed his hand, and the knife, back towards him.

“Of course you can, I’m lending it to you, when you come back to Prydwen I’ll have it back. You’ll need it more than me Wren,” his eyes fell solemnly on her, “I guarantee it.” 

She took the scabbard from him and attached it around her thigh. She tried to keep the sinking feeling in her stomach from showing on her face, but her fingers gave her away. She fumbled with the buckle and the strap dropped to the floor. 

The two stared at each other for a moment, both trying to keep the other from realising exactly how nervous they were.

“The vertibird’s going to descend now, it’ll land away from Sanctuary, we can test out your weapons, make sure you’re comfortable, then I’m off,” Evan’s finally stated, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Wren turned to look out the Veritbird, trying desperately to swallow the panic that was rising in her chest.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren meets Preston and learns a little about what Nate has been up to.

It didn’t take long for Wren to get used to her weapons, not that Evan’s was surprised. He had offered to take her up the hill to Sanctuary, but she had declined, wanting to spend some time around her old home before setting off to find Nate. Knight Evan’s gave her a tight hug before departing, reinforcing that should she need help she need only call a vertibird. 

Wren set up the hill towards Sanctuary, keeping her finger on the trigger of her rifle, ready for anything that may be lurking in her old neighbourhood.

What Wren hadn’t expected, was to be greeted just over the bridge by a man in a guard post pointing his own rifle directly at her.

“Halt!” he shouted. Wren slowly let go of her gun, leaving in hanging by her side. “What’s your business at Sanctuary?”

Wren looked past the man; there were a number of people walking round, some tending crops, others talking with traders accompanied by giant two-headed cows. _Brahmin,_ Wren recalled. People had clearly taken up residence in her old neighbourhood. 

“I’m trying to find someone,” Wren called back, raising her hands in the air. The man kept his rifle pointed at her. “Nate Peters and his son, we used to…” _live here,_ “we used live near each other, we were really good friends and I need to find him.”

The man lowered his gun and smiled, “welcome to Sanctuary.” He opened his arms wide and ushered Wren over the bridge. Wren jogged over to him, flicking her rifle over to her back.

“Colonel Garvey of the Minutemen,” he explained, holding out his hand, “or Preston, whichever.”

“Wren Ellwood,” she said shaking his hand. She smiled and looked up to meet his gaze, “well just Wren really.” He continued smiling at her as he led her through Sanctuary. 

“General Peters isn’t here at minute I’m afraid Wren.”

She felt as if her jaw had dropped to floor, “What? General?” was all she managed to splutter out.

Preston laughed at her, “General Peters got the last remaining Minutemen out of a really tight situation and he’s been helping build us back to former glory ever since.” He looked down at her from the corner of his eye, watching her reaction, “well he wasn’t General at the time, but it seemed fitting after everything,” he added when Wren stayed silent.

They stopped outside one of the old houses that was clearly now being used as a main base. People were milling to and fro, exchanging tools and equipment, and chatting between themselves. 

“So, if you don’t mind me asking details, how exactly do you know the General?” Preston asked Wren.

Only she wasn’t listening. 

She was staring past him at the shell of the building that used to be her home. The windows had been blown out and weeds grew from the roof, but it was still her house. Her mailbox still stood at the foot of her driveway and the house number her father had brought her still remained hanging, albeit wonky, by the front door.

Wren stepped around Preston and walked closer to the house, pausing half way up the drive to take in the damaged building.

“Nate told me what happened to him. You’re from before the war as well. Was this your house?” Preston asked. The sudden break in silence made Wren jump, snapping her attention to the man who stood behind her.

“Is. This _is_ my house,” Wren snapped as she spun around to look at him. 

Preston’s face dropped and he mumbled an apology.

Wren sighed. “No, I’m sorry Colonel. That was uncalled for,” Wren replied, softly. “It’s just, I didn’t expect it to be so difficult to see my own house again. To be honest, I really didn’t expect anyone to be here, let alone for there to be an entire community.”

“We aren’t really an entire community,” Preston interrupted, removing his hat and running a hand quickly through his hair. 

“Don’t knock yourselves down, I’ve seen the rest of Boston, from above anyway, and this seems like a nice place to live.” Wren tried to make eye contact with Preston, who was now looking intently at the floor, “are you… are you embarrassed?” she chuckled as she realised a small blush had crept onto his cheeks. Preston smiled back, touching a hand to his face to cover his eyes. 

Wren laughed and placed her hand on his forearm, “I’m sorry Preston. This place has gone to shit, really, I was just trying to be nice.”

Preston chuckled and relaxed, “you’re welcome to take your house back... Well move back in,” he corrected quickly, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “Nate told us not to let anyone in there until he got back, but I think I can grant you an exception.”

Wren paused, unsure whether she actually wanted to enter the house she’d fled from 210 years previous. 

“I can come with you if you want to look round?” Preston offered. Wren let out a deep breath, relief washing over her and she nodded quickly.

Her furniture was arranged almost exactly as she left it. Her sofa and chairs still faced a broken TV set, her dining room table and chairs still stood at the back of the room and her bed-frame remained upright in her bedroom. Preston stood by the front door simply watching as Wren absent-mindedly ran her fingers over the objects and walls, reliving imprints of her previous life. 

“If you want, we can get Codsworth in here to help you clean up a bit?” Preston asked. 

Wren’s eyes widened at the familiar name. “Codsworth? _The_ Codsworth? Nate’s Codsworth?” she spluttered out.

“Yeah, I think that’s his official title,” Preston joked.

“He’s here? And working?”

Preston nodded, grinning at Wren, “he’s probably in Nate’s house right now.”

Wren’s face brightened and Preston quickly moved aside as she ran to Nate’s old house.

“Codsworth?” she called out, flinging open the door. Nate’s house was in far better condition than her own. The leaves and debris that littered Wren’s floors had all been removed from Nate’s house. A radio blared out songs she remembered from before the bombs fell, and crude lighting systems and decorations had been put into place. It felt homely, and she could imagine Nate and Shaun cosying up around the makeshift fireplace that stood in the corner of the living room.

“Miss Ellwood? As I live and breath!” The robot hovered into view from the main bedroom and rushed to Wren. “I can hardly believe it Miss, Mr Nate will be so happy to see you!” 

“Oh Codsworth, if I could hug you I would,” she replied, instead settling with placing a hand on the side of his body. “You can’t understand how good it is to see someone from... well, before.” Wren grinned wide, suddenly feeling much more at ease with the world she’d been thrust into. 

“Codsworth, would you mind helping Miss Ellwood clean her house up?” Preston questioned, breaking the happy silence. “I think Wren’s going to stay a while?” he turned to her and raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, a little while, well at least until I get a lead on where to start looking for Nate.” She smiled back at Preston.

“Oh Miss Ellwood, I know exactly where Mr Nate is heading,” Codsworth interjected, “he needs to visit somewhere called The Memory Den in Goodneighbor with Mr Valentine. I’m almost positive that he will be there within the next few days.” 

Wren looked between Preston and Codsworth, waiting for one of them to explain where exactly that meant Nate was going to be. They both remained silent. 

Wren screwed her lips together and let out a frustrated sigh before stating, “I don’t know where those places are Codsworth.”

“Goodneighbor’s a settlement to the south-east of here, you could get there in around a day if you set out early enough,” Preston answered for the robot.

“Yes Miss, I believe it’s based around the Old State House,” Codsworth added. “But I must say, it would be far too dangerous for you to go alone Miss, even with your new weapons.”

“And I wouldn’t know how to get there,” Wren muttered, beginning to feel defeated before she’d even started. She hadn’t considered the intricate details of searching across a city she no longer recognised, she’d merely acted on impulse at the thought of Nate wandering, alone, trying to find somewhere safe for Shaun and himself.

“Look, there’s few settlements near Goodneighbor that the Minutemen take care of. I’ve been meaning to check up on them for a while now,” Preston began hesitantly. Wren nodded, urging him to continue. “Well this is the perfect excuse. I can take you almost all the way to Goodneighbor Wren... If you want, obviously. Your choice,” he added quickly.

Wren looked to Codsworth for an answer, suddenly hesitant about travelling alone with someone she didn’t know.

“Colonel, I think that’s a wonderful idea. I would have offered myself, of course, but I’m not too useful in battle, as I discovered with Mr Nate,” Codsworth offered gravely. 

“Yes, thank you Preston, I’d really appreciate that,” she smiled, trusting Codsworth's judgement above her own.

“Right, okay, I’ll get my things ready and we can leave once it’s light tomorrow,” Preston flustered as he walked out the door. 

He made it a few steps away before jogging back to add “it’s nice to meet you by the way Wren.”

Wren chuckled, “and you Preston. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

She sat on one of the armchairs facing Codsworth, taking a moment to process everything she’d been told. She looked up at Codsworth, her expression serious. Nate wouldn’t be wandering around Boston with Shaun if Codsworth was safe at Sanctuary. She immediately began to think the worst. 

“Codsworth, everyone keeps talking about Nate, but no-one’s told me anything about Shaun. Is he okay?”

“Oh Miss. How thoughtless of me. Shaun was kidnapped out of the vault, Sir is out there now looking for him.”

“Oh my god,” she gasped, her hand shooting up to cover her mouth in shock. She hadn’t even considered that Shaun could have been kidnapped. Her mind flitted now to Nora. After Maxson had failed to mention anything about her, Wren had assumed she’d succumbed to the cryopods, as had everyone else, but now… “What happened to Nora?” she blurted out.

“Mum was trying to protect Shaun from whoever took him, and, well, they shot her Miss Ellwood.” 

Wren froze, words escaping her as she tried to imagine what Nate had been through the past few months.

“Please don’t fret, Mr Nate will find Shaun, I’m absolutely positive of it. He said himself that the young lad was the best thing to happen to him, he won’t rest till he’s found, and then Miss Nora can rest in peace.”

Wren nodded silently, the shock of Codsworth revelation immobilising her.

“And once you meet up with Mr Nate, I’m sure you’ll make an unstoppable pair. You always were such a good team. Now let’s get your house cleaned up a bit so you can get a good night sleep before heading out with the Colonel tomorrow.”

Wren nodded again, still unable to form coherent thoughts, and she followed Codsworth to her house in a daze. She'd never expected that finding Nate and Shaun would be easy, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined Shaun to be anywhere else but with Nate.

As she entered her house she flopped into a chair, tears brimming in her eyes. Her mind flitted through various tragic scenarios that could be happening to Shaun and before she could stop them, a cascade of salty tears poured down her face, washing away any semblance of confidence she had felt earlier. 

Codsworth had the good sense to leave her alone, and after an hour of heavy sobbing, Wren drifted into a fitful nights sleep, images of Shaun and Nate occupying her nightmares. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Knight Evans POV as he spies on Wren settling back into the Commonwealth. But he soon realises that searching for Nate Peters isn’t going to be as straightforward as everyone had originally thought.

Knight Evan's watched Wren as she sauntered towards Sanctuary. Having scouted the town out a few weeks prior, he knew what she could expect at the top of the hill and trusted that Garvey, the man a local trader had told him was in charge, would see that she was looked after. Although he hadn't met the man himself, Evans was aware of almost his entire life story, having spent the majority of the 'scouting' mission having his ear talked off by the trader he'd bumped into. He mulled the thoughts over in his mind allowing Wren the chance to get deeper into the settlement before he circled round the boundary of Sanctuary and slipped into the shadows unnoticed. 

He watched as she spoke to Garvey outside a slightly run-down house before eventually entering. _Her old house?_ he thought to himself. Evan's stalked closer to the building, careful to keep away from the prying eyes of the gaggles of settlers milling around. Confident that Wren and Garvey were distracted enough to not notice him, he chanced a glance through the empty window-pane. Wren was circling the room, her eyes glassy as she ran her hands over the objects from her past life. Her house looked like an advert in the prewar magazines he seen, albeit a dusty and slightly more rundown version, and he smiled to himself as he imagined her 210 years previous; pretty as a picture inside her model house, attractive neighbors walking around waving at each other, kids riding trikes, the whole deal. Her fast approaching footsteps snapped him out of his daydream and he rolled under the window frame, out of sight, but still in earshot of what was going on inside the house. He leant back against the frame of the house and made notes for the inevitable report Maxson would demand. 

_Sanctuary = Sanctuary Hills. Old house right of building used as base(??)_

He continued to listen in on their conversation, adding anything of interest to his notes. 

_Codsworth, Nate's._

He heard Wren run out the door and, quickly pocketing his notepad, he crept round the side of the house to watch where she went: straight across the road. Shit. He ran as quickly as he dared around the outside edge of Sanctuary, praying that he wasn't missing anything important as he settled himself under a window of the new house. He peered through the window and saw Wren grinning at a beat up Mr Handy unit. A light radiated from behind the smile that Evans had never seen before; it was a smile of utter relief, like everything was falling into place for her. He smiled to himself. He'd never doubted that Wren would be fine in the Commonwealth, but Maxson's insistence on trailing her had wavered his conviction, planting a seed of doubt that maybe she wasn't capable of looking after herself. 

He made another quick note: _Codsworth = Mr Handy, prewar._

"...somewhere called The Memory Den in Goodneighbor..." The mention of Goodneighbor dragged his attention back to their conversation. 

"I don't know where those places are Codsworth," he heard Wren say, determination still laced through her words. 

_Settlement south-east._ He noted, deciding Maxson need not know exactly where she was heading... 

Evans chewed on his lip for a moment, Goodneighbor was a fair trek from Sanctuary, especially considering she didn't know where she was going. For a split second he considered revealing himself and offering to escort her there personally, but if Maxson could spare a Knight to escort a civilian around the Commonwealth, he would have assigned someone to her in the first place, and as much as Evans disagreed with it, he wasn't about to argue with his Elder. 

"Look, there’s few settlements near Goodneighbor that the Minutemen take care of. I’ve been meaning to check up on them for a while now...Well this is the perfect excuse. I can take you almost all the way to Goodneighbor Wren... If you want, obviously. Your choice." Gavey saved him the worry. Evans chuckled silently to himself at Garvey's flustered words; Wren already had him wrapped around her little finger. 

_Garvey, escorting. Bot staying._

"Right, okay, I’ll get my things ready and we can leave once it’s light tomorrow.” 

_Leaving sunrise. Attempt in one day._  
_All good._

He slumped down against the wall of the house, scouting out somewhere to set up camp for the night. He wanted somewhere close enough that he could keep an eye on Wren and stay under the protection of the turrets, but far enough away that he wouldn't be spotted. He decided on a spot between two bushes in the distance and made to stand. 

“Codsworth, everyone keeps talking about Nate, but no-one’s told me anything about Shaun. Is he okay?” Wren's voice was serious. Evan's crouched back down; this could be important. 

“Oh Miss. How thoughtless of me. Shaun was kidnapped out of the vault, Sir is out there now looking for him.” 

_Shit, shit, shit._ What should have been a simple find and retrieve had suddenly got a hell of a lot more difficult. 

He scribbled a quick line through his last note, amending it with the new information: 

_Baby gone. Institute?????_

"What happened to Nora?” Wren was asking. 

"Mum was trying to protect Shaun from whoever took him, and, well, they shot her Miss Ellwood.” Codsworth replied. 

_Shit._ Evans thought to himself, scribbling another note into his pad. Neither Wren nor the Brotherhood had banked on this. He glanced back through the window, her face was pale and she stood silently rooted to the spot. The robots replies to her fell on deaf ears as Evans argued with himself internally, torn between desperately wanting to comfort Wren and knowing she'd never forgive him or the Brotherhood for spying on her. 

Thankfully, Wren and Codsworth made his decision for him and they slowly drifted out the house and back across the street. Evans slumped down gracelessly against the ground and reviewed his scrawled notes, one word standing out above all the rest:

_Institute._

This wasn't going to end well for anyone involved, and unfortunately for Evans, he was now well and truly entangled in anything that happened to Wren Ellwood.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren finally starts her search for Nate and realises that maybe she isn't as prepared for the Commonwealth as she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's still following this I'm really sorry this took so long to upload, but I'm trying something different when I write so hopefully updates should come a lot more frequently.

"Elder Maxson, sir!" Knight Evans sprinted down the corridor towards Arthur who ignored him and continued to his quarters. "Elder, please this is important, it's about Miss Ellwood!" 

Arthur swung to meet his gaze, his hand slamming into the door to keep it from closing. "What's happened to her?" he asked, his jaw clenching as he held back the flurry of questions that engulphed his mind. 

"Nothing yet sir," Evans straightened, clasping his hands behind his back and trying to hide his slight breathlessness, "but the man she's searching for... I think he's tied up with the Institute." Arthur nodded slowly and gestured for Evans to enter his quarters. He offered him a seat, which Evans refused, so Arthur stood as well, pacing the small room in an attempt to calm his tempestuous thoughts. 

"What reason do you have to believe Nate Peters has a connection to the Institute?" Arthur asked, finally. Evans slid the report he'd quickly written up on the vertibird across the table towards Arthur, who began scanning it quickly. 

"I followed Wre- Miss Ellwood, like you requested, and overheard that his baby had been kidnapped from the vault. I know it's nothing concrete sir, but who else would have the knowledge and ability to break into the vault, and have the need for an infant?" Arthur remained silent, his eyes downcast on the report; flitting backwards and forwards over the scrawled words. Evans cringed slightly, wishing he'd taken the time to write the document up officially. "I know it's just a hunch, but I've got a really bad feeling about what she's getting herself in to." 

"Mmmm," Arthur tore his gaze away from the paper and fixed them back on Evans, "no I agree Knight. The Institute seems to be the only logical perpetrators." He dropped the report back onto the desk and resumed his pacing. "Send a vertibird to find her and bring her back to the Prydwen." 

"Sir, with all due respect, Wren is not going to appreciate you doing that." 

"With all due respect, _Knight_ , it's none of your concern." Arthur wasn't sure if he was more irritated at the lack of respect for his order, or that Evans had used Wren's name so casually. He paced faster now; Evans clearly knew more about Wren than he did, and if Nate was tangled up with the Institute he may be a valuable asset to the Brotherhood, he may even have knowledge on how to get inside. "What would be your suggested course of action Knight?" Arthur kept pacing, ignoring Evans' attempt to hide the smug look spreading across his face. 

"I suggest we attempt to make contact with Paladin Danse again, he should know the Commonwealth better than any of us by now so he'll know the best places to look for Mr Peters, perhaps he's even met him. But until then, I think we should see what we can find out about Peters ourselves." 

"And I assume you want to lead that intel mission Knight?" Arthur asked with a quirk of his brow. Although he hated giving the Knight more reasons to be smug, Arthur had to admit – if only to himself – that Evans was exceptionally good at anything that involved information gathering. 

"That's not for me to decide Elder Maxson," Arthur could almost hear the smirk laced through Evans’ reply and he bit back a reprimand, allowing Evans to continue, "if you think my idea is worth following up, you should send the soldiers you think are best suited for the job." Arthur stopped pacing and stared at the man in front of him. Knight Evans was a dedicated soldier and valuable asset to the Brotherhood, yet at the same time he could be incredibly arrogant and overbearing, and with thinly veiled displays of subordination, he was somehow able to manipulate situations to his pleasing. 

"You clearly have a vested interest in keeping Miss Ellwood away from harm..." It wasn't a question but he waited for Evans to defend himself. 

"Elder, you paired her with me so I could train her, we spent a month together, solidly. She's a friend and a good person, and on top of that, she'd make a damn good soldier. I don't want to see her get hurt because of something we could have stopped... There's nothing more to it than that." Arthur grabbed the folder and turned away from him, pretending to read over the notes for a second time to hide the warm blush he could feel creeping up his cheeks. "Is there a reason you ask Sir?" 

_Jealousy_ , Arthur thought to himself, scraping his hair back from his eyes. He cleared his throat and turned back to Evans. "I just wanted to make sure the relationship between the two of you is still appropriate, until the time comes that she's ready to be invited into the Brotherhood, she's a guest and she should be treated with the respect that entails." He slid the report back across the desk. "In the report you don't specify where she's beginning her search, is that because you don't know, or you don't want me to know?" 

"I, umm... at the time I was making notes it didn't seem to important. But I do know, I apologise that I didn't include it in the report, I was in a hurry. The best lead she has on the location of Nate Peters is that he was heading to Goodneighbor." Arthur nodded slowly, he'd send someone to the area in case she needed help. 

"Get that written up officially and get some sleep Knight, I'll inform Paladin Jones of the situation and you're to be back out in the Commonwealth by this time tomorrow. Dismissed." He sat at his terminal before Evans could reply and fiddled with the keypad until he heard the door click closed. Finally alone, he let out a long sigh, resting his head on his hands as he tried to make sense of his growing feelings for the woman her barely knew.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Wren woke with a start as Preston knocked on her door; she'd slept far better in her old house than she'd expected, the nightmares that plagued her sleep aboard the Prydwen non-existent now that she was back in Sanctuary. 

"Wren? Are you okay?" Preston called from the living room. 

"Yeah, sorry Preston, I didn't realise what time it was," she mumbled, dragging herself out of bed. She dressed quickly, yanked her hair back into a pony tail and rubbed her hands roughly over her face to wake herself up. Nervous-excitement bubbled in the pit of her stomach as she thought about seeing Nate again. She checked her weapons, strapping them to herself as Evans had shown her and walked out to Preston. 

"Ready to go?" 

"Yeah," she beamed hurrying past Preston and out the door. 

They walked for a few hours without incident, Preston answering her many questions as they walked. It wasn't until they approached the middle of the old city that Wren realised why Evans had looked so downcast on the vertibird; she was dangerously under-prepared for life in the Commonwealth. 

Despite being a good shot, she struggled to keep her focus through the surges of adrenaline that urged her feet to move back in the direction they'd come, and it took Preston's firm hand on her shoulder to keep her from bolting every time. By the time they made it to Goodneighbor it was far later than they'd and planned and Wren was exhausted; physically and mentally. Preston walked her to the entrance and stopped. 

"Luckily, that wasn't too bad of a journey," he told her. Wren turned to him, her face betraying her disbelief. "At least we only ran into supermutants. They might be big but it's a hell of a lot more difficult to pull the trigger when you're staring down the barrel at another person." A distant gun shot made Wren jump and she shot closer to Preston. "You'll get used to it Wren and it'll get easier, I promise." Preston rested his hand on her shoulder as he had done numerous times along the journey and squeezed it. "I have to carry on that way," he mumbled reluctantly, gesturing further into the old city. 

Wren bit back the tears that stung at her eyes, the nervous-excitement she'd felt at the beginning of the day replaced with bitter nausea. "Do you need to go Preston?" she whimpered. 

"I'm so sorry Wren, I promised the settlers I'd visit and help them out, they were expecting me hours ago. I won't be gone long, wait just inside the entrance for me if you don't want to venture further in, but I promise you'll be safe in there, Hancock runs a tight ship." Wren tried to smile. "I suppose I can come in with you though, get you settled into a room or something?" His conflicted voice stabbed at Wren, the guilt of keeping him away from the people who needed him breathing a new lease of bravery into her. 

"No, I'll be fine Preston. Believe it or not I'm a big girl, go. I'll see you later!" She waved as she hurried through the door, not wanting to give Preston – or herself – chance to have a change of heart. She slumped against the door as it closed, taking stock of her surroundings; people were milling around, smoking and shouting , and in front of her a robot and a ghoul stood behind counters. She spotted a bench and began making her way over, deciding just to sit and wait for Preston to get back. 

"Hey new girl!" A raspy voice called out before her backside had even touched the seat. 

"Yeah?" Wren turned her attention to the ghoul, clocking the name of the store: Daisy's Discounts. "Everything alright?" She tried to sound confident, Preston wouldn't have let her in her if there was going to be any trouble. She was safe. At least, that's what she repeated to herself over and over as she made her way slowly over to the counter. 

"Sure is Miss Ellwood," the ghoul replied and kind smile spread across her face. 

Wren froze. 

"How... how do you know my name?" 

"Don't panic, the name's Daisy." She reached below the counter and slid a stained photograph across towards Wren, who took it suspiciously into her hands. It was a picture of her and Nate in his house. Broad smiles spread across both of their faces, her in a satin dress, hair curled perfectly and him in a suit. It was taken at his birthday party a few weeks before the war, the only chance they'd had to celebrate since she'd moved to Sanctuary. 

"How did you get this?" Wren asked, not able to drag her eyes away. 

"Nate gave it to me, everyone's seen it though, he made sure we all knew who we were looking out for. Probably figured I was the most likely to see you, watching the gate pretty much all day and all." 

"What? I... I -" 

"Come in here and sit down, I'll get you something to drink." Daisy ushered Wren into the shack and sat her down away from the open front. She sat without looking around, the photograph gripped tightly between her fists. When Daisy returned she had a mug of some kind of tea and Wren took it gratefully. 

"I'm sorry, everything is so overwhelming to me right now. I'm usually so good at -" she couldn't finish, tears she'd been holding back without knowing finally spilling over, and Daisy pulled her to her chest. 

By the time Daisy had finished telling her about Nate and how he'd been looking for her at the same time as searching for Shaun, how he'd hunted down the man who'd killed Nora and shared some tales of what he'd done around Goodneighbor, Wren's tea had gone cold and the streaks of salty tears had dried on her cheeks, but she was smiling again. 

"You're welcome to stay here with me until Nate get's back, wouldn't want a girl like you venturing into the Rexford," Daisy chuckled. 

"Are you sure Daisy? I'll help you out as much as I can, I'm pretty handy when I'm not having a breakdown." Daisy's only reply was a gentle squeeze of her shoulder before she set off to make Wren a bed. "Hey Daisy, can I keep this photo?" she called up the stairs. 

"Of course, you've got more use for it than I have now." 

Preston returned the next morning to find Wren behind the counter with Daisy, helping her organise her stock. He blurted some shocked apologies, filling her in on the settlement and how much extra he'd had to do for them. Wren waved him off, denying that she'd ever needed him in the first place. 

"So do you know when Nate is going to be back in town?" he asked finally. 

"No idea, I've spoken to a couple of people he's travelled with but they say he just turns up whenever he feels like it, but apparently I'm best off waiting for him here. Go back to Sanctuary Preston, they need you, I'll be fine here" she replied, guessing the real reason for him asking. He jumped at the opportunity, handing Wren a radio before he went so that they could stay in contact despite the distance. 

"Let me know when you find him Wren," he said as he hugged her tightly. She mumbled a "yes sir" against his solid chest and waved to him as he exited the town, the smile she'd woken up with still spread across her face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren drags MacCready out to find Nate, but unsurprisingly Nate is no where to be found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of comments from artmaiar made me realise that this chapter wasn't coming across the way I wanted it to, so I've added a fair bit to it (2,000 words) and edited some bits so that hopefully it comes across a bit better, and Wren's reaction (or lack of reaction) make a bit more sense. 
> 
> I've also added some stuff about Wren's past that I was originally going to save, but I think it's needed here more.

Despite a great deal of time and effort being put into finding Paladin Danse and his team, there was still no sign of them and as a result Evans was on his way back to Sanctuary. A squire sat beside him on the vertibird re-reading their mission brief and checking his equipment meticulously. 

"What’s the plan again Knight Evans?" The boy asked for third time. Evans pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. 

"We sneak into Sanctuary, specifically Nate's old house, and gather as much information on him as possible. If we get caught we just say we're settlers that Wren has sent there." 

"And what exactly are we looking for?" 

"I. Don’t. Know. How about you wait quietly in the corner and I'll let you know when I find something?" 

"Yes sir," the boy replied, unnecessarily saluting Evans. "And then we're to do the same with Miss Ellwood's house right?" 

That was the real reason the boy was there; to make sure Evans dug as much information up on Wren as possible, none of this 'training a squire to gather information' bullshit that Elder Maxson has fobbed him off with. The squire was there as a spy, to make sure Evans followed the mission brief to a tee. 

Elder Maxson clearly knew him too well. 

"Yes," Evans finally spat, turning his attention to the patch of ground they were landing on, his patience already spread dangerously thin.

\----------------------------------------------------- 

A couple of days turned into a week, a week turned into two, and before long Wren had been waiting in Goodneighbor for a month. It wasn't that she didn’t like the place, in fact she'd taken a liking to the eclectic group of residents and enjoyed her work with Daisy, but she was beginning to lose patience waiting for Nate to turn up. 

After finishing her work with Daisy for the day she made her way to the Third Rail where she knew MacCready would be lurking. She found him in the back room and flopped down on the couch next to him, pulling her hair roughly into a pony tail and snatching the outstretched beer bottle from him. 

"Jeez Wren, what’s the matter with you?" 

"Is this seriously all you do? Sit around in Goodneighbor waiting for Nate to show up?" 

"Believe it or not, not _everyone's_ life revolves around waiting for Nate," he replied. She shot him a dirty look and sipped at her beer before pulling a face and handing it back to MacCready. "But yeah, no one goes looking for Nate. He just appears when you least expect him." She stared at him, wanting him to expand, to give her some hope that she wasn’t going to be waiting forever. When he didn't, she sighed. 

"I wanna go looking for him," she said finally, ignoring MacCready's exasperated look. "And I want you to come with me..." She watched him, searching his face for clues to his thoughts. "Please," she added when his face didn't change. 

He stayed silent. 

"Mac come on please, I can't just sit here any longer! And I can't go on my own. I'd die, I have no idea where anywhere is, I don't even know where Nate could possibly be, please help me," she babbled, built up frustration finally spewing from her. 

He pursed his lips together, sighed, rubbed a rough hand across his eyes and relented. "Fiiiiine. Radio Garvey and see if he has any leads, we'll set out tomorrow." He chugged the majority of his beer, before storming out, leaving Wren sat alone in the Third Rail. 

She slept fitfully that night, the same excitement she'd felt weeks prior resurfacing. As soon as hints of sunlight pierced her dingy curtains, she set off to wake MacCready, ignoring his obvious frustration and dragging him out of bed. 

"Preston's said to check out some of the settlements to see if they've seen him, I've got a list," she pulled a ratty piece of paper from her pocket and threw it at MacCready; Greygarden, Bunker Hill and Oberland Station were neatly scripted across the paper. "I figure we start with Bunker Hill, work across to Greygarden, then down to Oberland, and then take it from there." She grinned at MacCready, gesturing as if pointing to an invisible map. 

"Did I ask you to pay me for this?" 

"Nope, and terms have already been set, so lets go!" she replied excitedly, practically skipping back into the Commonwealth. This time she knew what to expect. This time she was ready.

\-------------------------------------------------

"This is so stupid," Wren huffed, twirling on the spot and looking up at the remainders of a high rise building, "I walked through this city every day, I went to school here, I worked here, I knew it like the back of my hand!"

MacCready looked at her, clearly suspicious of the relevance seeing as they were down what would have been a shady back alley.

"Even all the back alleys," she shot back, sensing his doubt. He held up his hands admitting his surrender and walked closer to her.

"So where are we?"

"I don't know! That's my point! I -" she spun around again, squinting as if it allowed her a second sight of Boston before the war, "I think that used to be the comic book store over there so-"

"Where?" MacCready practically squeeked, whipping round to see where she was pointing.

"That little shop there, with the red store front, why?" She turned to him and watched him try to reign back his excitedness and he cleared his throat.

"No reason, just a good thing to know." He propped himself as casually as he could against his rifle and kicked at the dust on the ground.

"Aww, I would say we could go and have a look but we've got stuff to do. Maybe when this is all over, you and me could come back here and check it out?"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, and she replayed her words as he would have heard them.

"Not like that! That wasn't a come-on, hands on heart!"

"You know if you want things to go down like that you'd just have to ask, I'd say no, but-"

"Shut up," she swatted his arm to reiterate her point, "I didn't mean it like that, I just miss the -" A faint beeping drew her attention away from the conversation. "Did you hear that?"

MacCready shook his head, but followed Wren as she ventured into the wider part of the street to see what was happening. She heard it again in the distance and began to walk towards it.

"Don't go towards the sound for f-, let's just keep going this way, I think I know where we are."

"Fine!" she replied, trying to sound as dejected as she could, but before she could move, the tell-tale laugh of a supermutant reached her ears and she swung back to MacCready, wide eyed. He put a finger to his lips and pointed upwards, indicating they should use the old fire escapes to climb the building. She nodded frantically, following Mac as he hopped up to the bottom rung, but a noise - closer to them than before - stopped her in her tracks, and before she could pinpoint where it had come from, an explosion behind her catapulted her further into the open and away from the ladder. She shot back up, drawing on what Evans had told her - _"the only thing you need to do is stay. off. the. floor."_ \- ignoring the pains in her limbs and chest. 

She glanced at MacCready before another explosion, in the same spot, had her ducking for cover behind a car. 

"Wren get to better cover, I'll take as many out from up here!" he shouted, climbing faster now. 

She heard another loud bang but didn't see it, darting into the shop that was closest to her and taking cover beside the bust out window. She heard MacCready take out one. Two. Three? before she'd even gathered her barings and steadied her shaking hands. She propped her rifle on the ledge and sighted a group across the street, they were firing randomly down the alley and near the roof, and although she couldn't see MacCready, she knew they were no where near hitting him. Most importantly though, they hadn't spotted her; probably assuming one of nukes had taken her out. 

Without hesitation, and confident in her hiding spot, she shot one in the temples and he crumpled to the floor, MacCready took out two more before she'd had time to calm herself back down; sickening excitement at her success weakening her focus. She breathed deeply _"don't get cocky, you haven't won till there all down and you're walking away"_ Evans' voice at the back of her head reigned her focus back in. She took out the final two of the group in quick succession, biting back an excited laugh as she slumped back against the wall. 

Two more shots from MacCready, and things quitened. Two more and the air seemed to still, quiet enough now that Wren could hear the rapid beeping that had started everything, ringing clear a few feet down the street, rapidly getting closer to her hiding spot. She recognised it now; a suicider. 

She glanced around, the shop was too open to shield her but too enclosed for her to get far enough away. Without thinking, she leapt from the window and into the street, she was fast, and the open plain at least offered her the possibility to outrun it. As soon as her boots touched the ground again she was sprinting, ignoring the heavy tread of footfalls behind her and focusing solely on propelling herself as quickly as she could down the street. 

Her heart beast seemed to pound to the same tempo as the beeping, which despite her best efforts seemed to be getting closer to her. She pushed harder, drawing deep breaths into her stinging lungs, striding her legs as far as she could, all the while ignoring the burning in her muscles. 

As she passed where MacCready was hiding, she heard a whistle and as if guided by something outside of herself, she dove down behind the rubble in front of her, landing at the same time as the nuke detonated, assisted by a shot from MacCready. The impact knocked the air from her and she slipped briefly from consciousness before she could make sense of what had happened. 

"Wren! Wren, shit shit shit," MacCready's distant voice steadied her and she attempted to push herself off the ground, but her movements only served to disrupt the debris on top of her and she ended up buried more awkwardly than before. She could hear MacCready shifting concrete and dirt from somewhere above her and she tried to call out to him.

"Mmmm - " dust filled her throat and before she could make any coherent noise and she was reduced into a coughing fit. Mac's movements seemed closer to her now and she decided to save her energy; he knew where she was. She took the time instead to take stock of her possible injuries. Running through the tests she'd do with patients – _take a deep breath and start with your toes_ – she'd done no serious damage to the nerves to her feet and she was able to breath as much as she'd expect - _now try to move your feet, then your knees_ – apart from a burning in her left leg she seemed okay, the space she was in not allowing a great range of motion – _wiggle your fingers_ – although she could, on her left side it felt as if she was tearing skin from bone and she whimpered as quietly as she could, not wanting to inhale another lungful of dirt. _Ears to shoulders and chin to chest slowly_ – her head pounded and she could hear nothing over the ringing in her ears, but she deemed herself lucky she seemed to have no serious head injuries. She left her face till last, a warm metallic taste in her mouth told her she'd suffered some damage but she couldn't pinpoint where, searing pain blooming all over her face. 

"Wren!" MacCready's voice was clear now and he shifted the remaining rubble from her, hoisting her from the ground with surprising strength. "Are you -" he stopped, catching sight of her face and helped her back towards the shop she had hidden in. "We need to get out of the open and then... then we can sort your face."

"Is it... is it that bad?" she spluttered.

"No... No, you used to be a nurse right? It’s fine, you can tell me what to do and we'll sort it, no trouble." His voice wobbled slightly and Wren realised he was trying to comfort himself as much as her. 

When they eventually made it back to the shop, Wren slumped against the wall, the short walk exhausting her now the adrenaline was leaving her system and the extent of her injuries became apparent. 

MacCready rumaged wordlessly through their packs, and handed Wren a scrap of material to stem some of the bleeding from her face, before pulling out all the stimpaks, med-x and clean water they had and arranged it in front of her.

"There's a mirror in the side pocket..." she mumbled, gesturing as well as she could to her bag, and MacCready retrieved it, holding it up so she could see the damage to her face.

"Holy..." A deep cut ran from just below her left eye down toward her jaw and she was surprised she was able to talk as well as she was. 

"You're lucky it wasn't a little higher," MacCready offered, handing her a can of water which she used to clean the worst of the dirt from the cut and a stimpak which she applied directly the edge of the wound. She watched as the skin began to knit back together slightly and the bleeding slowed.

Next she turned her attention to her arm, although her right side was bruised it seemed that the left side had taken the brunt of the damage from shrapnel and from the fall and she had gashes littered along her bicep and forearm. She used the last of the water to wash it and MacCready handed her another stimpak which she applied the same way. The wounds here were shallower it seemed and the majority of them closed up with no extra help. 

"Can you help me get this off?" she asked, pulling at her jumpsuit. MacCready nodded briskly and eased the suit from her shoulders. She hissed a little as it travelled over her left arm, but a quick examination and a few light stretches told her that the worst of the damage was on her face, the rest merely bruises and shallow cuts that would heal once the stimpak had time to work.

"I'm glad you realised what my whistle was for," MacCready said, watching her as she took some med-x and cleaned the dried blood from her face.

"To be honest, I panicked a little bit so don't give me too much credit. There's a little pouch in my bag with some needles in it, could you grab it for me?" 

He passed it to her and sat watching as she began to stitch the gash on her face, nose screwed up in pain. 

"Are you alright?"

"Mmmm, this hurts like a motherf- but yeah."

"I didn't mean because of your face. Stuff like that is just all part of living in Commonwealth or the Wasteland or where ever, but it's even shook me up, and you're not from here, so are you okay?"

She finished stitching her face and puffed out a deep breath. "Umm, yeah actually. I mean, it might just be the adrenaline, but like you said things like this are all part of living here, I need to get used to it."

"Yeah you've got to get used to it, but that doesn't mean you have to be perfectly fine with things immediately after they've happened."

"I guess." She took a deep breath, "it's just, my whole family was in the army, they'd come back telling me stories of what had happened, how they'd got their scars and injuries and I was so determined that I was going to join as well, that I guess I always expected to have to go through this kind of thing. What is it that Nate always says? War never changes. This is just a different kind of war I suppose."

"But you said you were a nurse before the war, not a soldier."

"I was, because my dad wouldn’t let me join the army. I guess I got what I wanted in the end though huh?" 

"I guess... so long as you're alright." MacCready dropped the topic obviously sensing she didn't want to talk about it anymore. "When you're ready we can move on, I think I've figured out where we are."

\-------------------------------------------------

After a short rest, some more stimpaks and something to eat, they moved out on Wren's orders. However, their trip didn’t improve when they reached Bunker Hill; none of the settlers having seen or heard from Nate for weeks - although they made sure to fill Wren in on everything he'd done for them - no one had anything useful to tell her that she didn't already know. They rested there for awhile and Wren turned her attention back to her face. 

She'd stitched it up the best she could and despite MacCready's compliments that she'd done a good job, she knew it was messy and it was no doubt going to leave a nasty scar. She cleaned some more blood from it and applied another stimpak that she'd bought from a settler before they set off for Greygarden. 

The stimpaks were clearly starting to kick in during their walk and a pleasant warming sensation blossomed through her body. 

"Still good?" MacCready asked, trying to fill the silence. 

"Yeah, those stimpaks are amazing, I feel great." 

"Well you have used about 20 of them, I should hope so," he replied walking ahead of her to check for any enemies. 

She smiled and rubbed at the wound on her cheek, which was itching now that it was beginning to heal. As her fingers brushed the dimpled skin her mind slipped to Elder Maxson and the garish scar that marred his face. She'd heard rumors about it being from a deathclaw he'd fought single handedly and she wondered if it was true or whether it was the same as the tall tales that her brothers and her dad would tell when they returned from duty. 

"Hey Mac," she called to him, "when people ask about this," she gestured to her face and arm, "can we make up something really dramatic, say that I nearly died or something?" 

He turned to look at her, lowering his rifle slowly. "Wren it was dramatic, and you _did_ nearly die." He paused for a second to allow his reply to sink in before walking away. 

Wren stood, frozen to the spot as she processed his words - _you did nearly die_ – and thought back to the moment before they were lowered into the vault, to her time being experimented on, when she was trapped under the rubble; had she ever really thought she was going to die? Her cheek twinged as if to reiterate that this was real, she wasn't running around with her brothers playing army, she wasn't invincible, all she'd been was really fucking lucky and next time she might not be. 

"You alright Wren?" MacCready called from up ahead 

She stayed frozen to the spot, staring in his direction and shook her head. "I – I could have died. If I'd had been a few feet back, or if you couldn't have shot it, I'd be dead..." 

"Finally hit you huh?" She hadn't noticed MacCready walking back to her, looking but not seeing what was happening, until she felt his hand on the small of her back pushing her forward. 

"None of it because of me or my skills, I've just been really lucky!" she babbled, panicking now. 

"Yeah you have, I've seen other people get taken down because of a lot less. But it's not just because of that, you survive because you bounce back." He kept pushing her, forcing her to keep going. "Now we're going to Greygarden and we're going to find where Nate is, because I've got my own stuff to do that doesn't involve babysitting you and getting all mushy," he teased with a gentle shove on her back. "It's over now, not only didn't you die, but you're fine. Let's keep going, there might even be some worthless junk you can make me carry on the way." 

\-----------------------------------------------

Greygarden and the settlers that lived there seemed to have fared better than those at Bunker Hill and while Wren spoke with who she assumed was the leader of the place, she admired the home that had been created; various crops blanketed the land, a myriad of defences littered the landscape, and, most impressively, sturdy walled and roofed shacks were dotted around, providing homes for the settlers that milled around the place. 

"We got plenty o' food and water and the General sends us more medical supplies and scrap than we can shake a stick at..." She pulled her attention back to the man in front of her. He was cleaner than anyone else she'd seen in the Commonwealth and looked well fed. His words trailed off and he looked at Wren expectantly. 

"But?" she asked, guessing what was coming next. 

"But none of us have got two caps to rub together..." He trailed off again and wrung his hands, his eyes on the ground in a clear attempt to look as pathetic as possible. 

MacCready leant closer to her to whisper in her ear, "don’t let him bully you Wren. He's tried the same spiel with Nate before." 

She nodded to him and turned back to the man. "Well I've got a proposition for you then. The Brotherhood need some crops to help bump up their rations, and they're willing to pay for them." The man's eyes lit up, so she continued, "and seeing as you have so many crops going spare -" 

"750 caps," he interrupted. There was no skirting the issue apparently. She wasn't used to haggling but she'd seen her brother do it frequently before the war. 

"300," she shot back. 

"600." 

"500 and that's everything I've got." 

"Deal." She smiled and they shook hands, before Wren handed over a bag of caps. "Talk to some of the others about the General, but I ain't seen or heard from him for a while."

Wren tried not to look too disappointed as she walked away with MacCready who was beaming from ear to ear. 

"What are you so happy about?" 

"You lied," he said bluntly. "You've got at least 750 caps in your bag." 

"Over a 1,000 actually, probably closer to 1,500 now, since Daisy paid me." 

MacCready barked out a laugh, "brilliant." 

"What? Why are you laughing? Mac! What?" 

"I didn’t realise you were so cold-hearted and cap-hungry." 

She swung round to look back at the man she'd just struck a deal with, worry knitted across her face, "do you think I should give him the other 250?" 

"What? No! It’s the first thing you've done that's actually made me respect you." 

She scowled at him, "well thanks I suppose, let's just ask around about Nate and move on." 

As it turned out no-one had seen or heard from Nate at Greygarden either and Wren's determination was flailing. She and MacCready walked in silence towards Oberland station, both of them beginning to tire, and to make the trip more difficult, they stumbled upon a nest of supermutants, camped out directly in their path. Wren didn't notice them, too absorbed in her own thoughts, until MacCready yanked her behind a burnt out truck. 

"Mutants," was all he said, gesturing behind them with his head. Wren let out a frustrated sigh and flopped her head to rest on her knees. 

"Let's just head back to Goodneighbor, I can't do this again and what’s the chances that anyone's even seen him at Oberland?" 

MacCready nodded, clearly grateful to be returning and helped Wren stand, and they set back the way they'd come. 

"I know a way that should be quiet so it shouldn't take too long to get back," MacCready explained. Wren nodded and sighed, her shoulders hunched forward, hope extinguished once again. "Hey Wren, don't give up," he offered, noticing her despondence, "I know I said the thing with the crops was the first thing I'd respected you for, but that's not true. I respect that despite everything that's happened to you, you just brush yourself off and carry on, and you're not completely jaded by it all. Everything will come together, just don't let this place get to you." 

She looked up at him, eyes glassy with tears, voice trapped in her throat. 

"If you cry I'll shoot you, just keep going," he warned pushing her forwards by her shoulder and following close behind.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren and MacCready head back to Goodneighbor where they're greeted with a pleasant surprise.

Knight Evan's worked quickly and even with the squire continually asking questions and wanting pointers, they'd gathered all the information they could from Sanctuary, and sent it back to the Prydwen, within a few days. 

Next, they made their way into the old city of Boston to investigate every lead they had on places that may have information on either Wren or Nate, and although incredibly annoying, the squire was exceptionally accomplished with a weapon. Apparently Elder Maxson had possessed the forethought to assign Evans a squire that wouldn't drag him down once they were out in the Commonwealth. 

They'd worked slower through the city, taking their time to ensure every scrap of information was gathered, frequently sending batches back to the Prydwen, and by the time they themselves returned, they knew everything they could about Wren and Nate. Their family backgrounds, education, where and what they had both done for work, bundles of photographs, notes, and even some medical history, now lay on Elder Maxson's desk in organised piles. 

The stress of the weeks following Knight Evans' mission to the Commonwealth had taken it's toll on Arthur and he paced around his room, occasionally glancing at Evans' as he read through the latest report to come back from the ground troops; no sign of Danse, no sign of Nate, and Wren had seemingly vanished from Goodneighbor. On top of that, Arthur had received several 'suggestions' that the teams should not be spread so thinly around the Commonwealth, and as a result the soldiers tasked with finding the three of them had been recalled to airport where they were to focus on the impending war against the Institute. 

Arthur ran a hand through his hair as Evans sighed at the report, throwing it onto his desk. 

"This hasn't really gone to plan has it," he stated, slumping back in his chair. 

"Not entirely, no," Arthur replied, setting down two glasses and rubbing his face. The two of them sharing a drink had become a frequent occurrence since Evans' return to the Prydwen and Arthur relished in the distraction from the Institute, and the chance to speak without judgement or expectation. 

He filled both the glasses and pushed one towards Evans. "There is something positive to come from all of this however." 

"Yeah? And what's that?" Evans asked suspiciously. 

"I've spoken to those concerned and your promotion to Knight-Sergeant has been approved by everyone," he replied, a hint of a smile pulling at his lips. 

Evans beamed in response, but quickly took a deep swig of whiskey and pulled his mouth back into a hard line. 

"I was expecting more of a celebration, perhaps even an arrogant critique that I hadn't promoted you sooner..." 

"I didn’t think it would be appropriate to celebrate at the moment," Evans mumbled, pausing for a moment before adding, "and I didn’t want you to take it away from me, this promotion _has_ been a long time coming after all." He grinned again and Arthur brought his glass to his. 

"Congratulations Knight-Sergeant Evans," he toasted before falling into a comfortable silence while they both saw off their drinks. Arthur watched as Evans toyed with his glass, twisting it anxiously between his fingers. He opened his mouth to pry, but before he could speak, Evans interrupted him. 

"I'm worried about Wren," he mumbled to his empty glass, his expression broadcasting his instant regret at his outburst. 

Arthur clenched his glass and debated his response, would words of comfort be most appropriate? Determined words that she'd be fine? Maybe a reassurement that he'd send people as soon as he could? All of them flashed through his mind, but when he opened his mouth to reply, the only words that escaped were a quiet "me too." 

\----------------------------- 

"Hey, maybe Hancock will be back when we reach Goodneighbor, you should come to the Third Rail with us, that'll definitely take your mind off things." MacCready offered in an attempt to cheer Wren up. 

"Yeah, sounds fun," she replied, trying unsuccessfully to tame back the excited smile that was blooming across her face. 

MacCready scoffed. "What’s the deal? I've been trying this whole way to get you to crack a smile and the slim possibility of drinking with me and Hancock is what finally does it?" 

"I can’t help it, it's like being invited to the cool kids party, even if it never happens it's just nice to know that they think you're good enough to mix with them." The failure of their trip now at the back of her mind, Wren bumped her shoulder off MacCready's. "You pretend that you don't like me, but that's a lie. You think I'm cool really." 

"I take the invite back, pretend I never said anything -" 

"No, you want to hang out with me, you invited me to your's and John's little drinking club... we're practically best friends now, you can't take that back." She linked her arm through his and started skipping towards the gate of Goodneighbor, dragging MacCready behind her. "I'm going to make us friendship bracelets," she teased, "maybe we could even get matching tattoos!" She spun around to look at him, pushing the door open with her bum, "you can't get rid of me -" 

"Wren, look," MacCready interrupted, pointing over her shoulder. 

She spun back around, following his finger, then froze; propped against the wall by Daisy's shop was Nate. She saw Daisy smile and whisper something to him, but before he could turn all the way her feet propelled her towards him and he barely managed to catch her in his arms and hoist her off the ground. 

"Fuck, am I glad to see you," he mumbled into her hair, squeezing her closer to him while silent tears of relief trailed down her face. They stayed like that for a moment, both relishing in the embrace of the other, before Nate set her gently back down on the ground. 

She rubbed at her face attempting to dry some of her tears. "I've been looking everywhere for you," she finally managed to verbalise after a moment of silence. 

"You mean you checked Sanctuary, came here and camped out for a bit, eventually decided to actually look for me, checked in at two settlements, took one for the Brotherhood, then came back?"

"Umm, yeah..." she muttered, eyes downcast, embarrassed that she'd done so little. 

"Probably a good thing you didn’t do more, look at your face!" 

Her hand shot subconsciously to her cheek and she ran a finger along the healing wound. "I suppose... It's not that bad though is it?" 

"Umm, no. It gives you a bit of character. Are you alright? What happened?" 

"It was nothing, just got a bit unlucky," she lied, knowing Nate would blame himself. 

"If you say so." He eyed her suspiciously, fully aware that she had no intention of telling him the truth. "I've got a lot to tell you, we should go to the bar. This is Paladin Danse of the Brotherhood of Steel, by the way." He gestured to the man stood behind him, she'd had been so distracted she hadn't noticed him, silent despite his massive suit of power armour. "Danse, _this_ is Wren." 

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Ellwood," he replied, nodding towards her. 

"We'll stop here tonight and I can get you up to speed, then tomorrow we need to start working on a way to contact the Prydwen, that's the Brotherhood's blimp thing -" 

"You don't need to!" Wren exclaimed, rummaging in her pack and pulling out a few signal grenades, "I've got these." 

Danse's eyes widened, recognising them immediately, "how have you come into possession of those?" he asked sharply, ripping the grenades from her grasp to inspect them. 

"Elder Maxson gave them to me," she replied cautiously, taking the grenades back and stuffing them back into her bag. Both men looked at each other, searching the other for answers. 

"I-" 

"Wren, what's going on?" 

She rummaged in her pack again, pulling out the now crumpled note that Maxson had left her and thrust it towards Danse. He scanned it and passed it to Nate with a nod, who read it a few times before looking up at Wren, confused. 

"Looks like I've got a lot to fill you in with as well," she told him with a smirk before turning to MacCready, "you coming too?" 

"Suppose so," he replied, making his way towards them now introductions were over. Nate clapped him on the back and whispered a thanks to him that Wren pretended not to hear, before he lead them all towards the Third Rail. 

\------------------------------------------------ 

It didn’t take long for Wren to fill Nate and Danse in on what had happened, having spent most of her time aboard the Prydwen training with Knight Evans. It took a great deal longer for Nate to explain everything to Wren; how Shaun had been taken and Nora shot while they were frozen, how he'd set up the Minutemen, his discovery that it was the Institute that had taken Shaun and the fact that around 10 years had passed since he'd woken up the first time. He told her how he'd tracked down Kellogg, how he'd killed him and rooted through his brain to find out more information and that he now had to travel to the Glowing Sea to find out from a scientist how to get into the Institute. 

MacCready had fallen asleep, sprawled out on the couch not long after they'd arrived, and Danse had kept quiet the entire time, allowing them both to speak without interruption. Once they had finished, and the silence had allowed them to process what the other had said, Danse finally spoke up. 

"I don't know if you realise how privileged you are Miss Ellwood, to be given resources and training, and to be allowed to stay with the Brotherhood without joining the ranks, I – I don't think I've heard of it happening before." 

Wren had no answer, she'd realised that she was lucky to have been treated so well, but maybe she had taken it all for granted. 

"I'll be sure to thank Elder Maxson for everything when we get back," she replied quietly, sensing that Danse wasn't looking for a conversation. 

Danse nodded sharply before standing and walking out. 

Once he'd left the room, Nate turned to her with an apologetic smile. "He takes a little bit of getting used to," he offered, sensing Wren's awkwardness. "The Brotherhood is his life and he's been through a lot -" 

"I haven't said anything! He seems great..." 

"Mmhmm, and?" 

"And nothing, _Initiate_ Peters," she replied with a coy smile. 

Nate stayed silent, simply raising an eyebrow in response. Apart from a few small cuts and some stubble, he looked no different from the last time Wren had seen him, his cheek dimpled as he smirked and Wren caved.

"He seems to have taken a liking to you though..." she elaborated. 

"There we go! Look, there's nothing going on with me and Danse! Stop being so dramatic." 

"I'm not -" 

"You are!" he laughed. She pursed her lips to hold back another retort and in the comfortable silence she watched as Nate studied her. She'd had no time to look at herself since returning to Goodneighbor, and so far the Commonwealth hadn't treated her well; she knew her face was dirty, bruised and scarred, her hair was greasy and hung limply in the pony tail she raked it into earlier that day, and her jumpsuit and jacket were slightly too big for her now, hanging awkwardly on her small frame. She folded her arms and sank back in the seat, conscious as she compared herself to Nate; still clean and unmarred by the harsh surroundings. 

Nate caught her eye again and smiled, "I'm so glad I found you... These past few months have been... horrible, I - it's -" 

"I know," she interrupted, "everything's... really weird." 

Nate smiled, his warm, genuine smile that she'd missed. "Well we've got all the time in the world to talk about it, but it's getting late now. We should probably get some sleep and we can get you back to Elder Maxson in the morning. Sure he's missed you," Nate jested, pushing himself out of the chair with a teasing smirk.

"Oh? And now who's being dramatic? All he did was give me some supplies so I wouldn't die!" Wren retorted, the emotional weight of the last few seconds now cleared, she knocked MacCready's legs off the couch to wake him as she passed. 

"Yeah I'm sure that's all it is." 

"It is! When you meet him tomorrow you can see for yourself. It's nothing more than him feeling responsible for me, seeing as he's the one who dragged me out of that freezer, cross my heart. I've barely even spoken to him!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren gets ready to return to the Prydwen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be the last chapter posted for a while because i'm intending to get this finished as part of NaNoWriMo, but once that's over updates will be much more frequent :D

Elder Maxson sat behind a pile of boxes filled with various papers, his forehead resting on the desk, a bottle of bourbon grasped lightly in his grasp. His eyes closed against his will, dragging him into the sleep he so desperately needed to avoid. He fought to keep his eyes open pushing the bottle around the table to try and pull himself back to full consciousness. 

A sharp rap at his door made him jump and he knocked the bottle off the table, glass and the final dribble of bourbon glistening on the floor. He stared at it for second, more drunk than he'd realised, until the door was pushed open. 

"Elder Maxson?" Evans glanced between Arthur, the broken bottle and the pile of boxes before making his way over to the Elder. "You're still going through all this stuff? I thought you were passing it all to Quinlan?" He knelt down and began collecting the glass off the floor. 

"I... I think I might have made a mistake..." Arthur drawled, his head slumping onto his hand. 

"You mean snooping into the past life of the girl you like without her permission wasn't a good idea?" Evans replied sarcastically. 

"Perhaps..." 

"Or spending weeks sifting through the same pieces of writing, not eating properly and drinking yourself to sleep every night?" 

"Mmmm." 

"Or pulling the only support Wren had so now we have no idea where she is?" Evans pushed himself from the floor using Arthur's leg as support and glared down at him. 

"Yes?" 

"Well I'm glad you agree. Now, are you going to sort yourself out, or do I need to call Cade again to get you into bed?"

Arthur glared at him as a silent reminder that despite their relationship, he was still his superior. Evans stared back, confident now of how far he could push the boundaries, and Arthur relented first, rubbing his ashen eyes in an attempt to sober himself up. 

“I'm fine,” he spat, pushing himself up. "She has until this time tomorrow to return and then you'll take a team to find her and bring her back whether she likes it or not. And get Quinlan to collect these boxes, I want them gone when I get back from the mess hall." 

He wobbled slightly as he tried to storm out his room and heard Evans chuckle to himself. He'd done this journey drunk enough times to know how to steady himself and walk straight before he bumped into anyone. He grabbed a plate of food, barely acknowledging what it was and sat at an empty table in the corner of the room. 

He wasn't sure what time it was, but the lack of bodies milling around suggested it was late. Or early. He wasn't sure. 

He shovelled food into his mouth not tasting it, but finding the repetitive motion soothing. Away from the mountain of papers and files, and with just his thoughts for company he finally felt like he could think straight. 

Evans had been right, his entire approach to the situation had been a mistake, he'd invaded Wren's privacy and no matter how many times he told himself it was so he'd be able to help her, or that he needed to know her skills before she could be invited to join the ranks, he knew that the only reason he'd done it was because he wanted to know as much about her as he could. He craved information about her old life, what type of a person she'd been. He wanted to know about her family, he already knew she had two brothers; Levi and Reid. Had they got on? Did Reid's death affect her, change her plan? Is that why she never joined the army? 

He knew she'd been a nurse, that she'd done exceptionally well in her studies. The Brotherhood always needed medical experts he told himself, that's why he was so keen on getting her to join. She'd make a brilliant Scribe no doubt, but every time he imagined her clad in a scribe uniform and working, he felt a pang of – he didn’t know what, dejection maybe? He knew as soon as she became an initiate he'd be unable to pursue any kind of relationship with her. He was already treading a very fine line with Evans, but at least that could be dismissed as a necessary part of their mission. Any kind of romantic relationship with someone so below his rank, and so recently invited into the organisation would never be deemed suitable or appropriate. 

He felt guilty that he was debating all this entirely without her knowledge. They'd barely spoken, and yet he seemed to be falling hard, unable to think of anything else, despite knowing how important it was for his mind to be on the upcoming war against the Institute. 

He thought back to the files, about everything she'd lost because of the war; her family, her home, her job, everyone she'd ever known, he knew all of it because he'd snooped through her life. She'd shared some of her stories with Evans, but it seemed she'd kept a lot to herself, maybe she didn't want anyone to know, wanted to start over.

Arthur pushed his bowl away from him, leaving a little food in the bottom and walked briskly back to his quarters, he may have pried into her life but that didn’t mean anyone else had to – especially not Quinlan. 

"Leave those files Proctor," Arthur called, with a little too much force, as he approached his room. Quinlan's shoulders dropped and he sighed. 

"I was under the impression I was to catalogue them all Elder?" 

"You were, but there's been a change of plan. Have you taken many already?" 

"None, this is the first box Elder." 

Arthur snatched it from him, "thank you Proctor, that's all. Goodnight," he rushed, closing the door to his room with no further explanation. 

He'd keep everything until Wren returned and she could decide what she wanted to do with it, that would be his desperate plea for forgiveness. 

\--------------------------------------- 

Wren woke early the next morning, eager to say her goodbyes and get back to the Pydwen. She'd cleaned her jumpsuits and washed her hair the night before, spending a significant amount of time getting used to the sight of her scarred face. She'd chosen to wear her vault suit, Danse’s harsh words the night before resonating in her head, the least she could do was wear her own clothes. She pinned her hair delicately behind her ears, leaving the majority flowing over her shoulders, and washed the remnants of sleep from her face before grabbing her pack and heading to Daisy's. 

They were well into spring now and Wren smiled, feeling the warming rays against her face. She secured her jacket on her pack – she wouldn't be needing it today – and rang the bell on Daisy's counter. The ghoul practically flew down the stairs towards her, wrapping Wren in a tight embrace that almost knocked the wind from her. 

“I'm not going far Daisy, I'll promise I'll be back before you know it.” 

“That's all well and good but I've lost the best assistant I've ever had,” Daisy joked, holding Wren at arms length to examine her. 

“What? You're making me nervous Daisy, is there something wrong?” Wren asked, the nervous look on Daisy's face causing her to panic. 

“Just, don't let the Brotherhood make you forget who you are, don't lose –"

“Wren!” Nate cut Daisy off, jogging towards her, “all ready?” 

“Yeah just give me a second,” she replied, giving Danse and MacCready a quick wave before turning back to Daisy. “I don't think they're that bad Daisy, but I promise to keep coming back so you can keep me in check.” She winked and pulled Daisy in for another hug, ignoring the tut from Danse.

“Right then Ellie, let's get this grenade on the go! I'm excited to see this blimp from the inside.” 

“The Pydwen is much more than a blimp, it's an incredible piece of Brotherhood ingenuity that was crafted over a period of …” 

Nate grabbed Wren by the elbow, ushering her out of Goodneighbor with a wave to Daisy, ignoring Danse as he gushed over the Prydwen. 

“You look nice,” Nate whispered into her ear. 

She blushed red, feeling the heat rise from her chest to her ears. “I look nice? Is that even a thing anymore? How does anyone look nice?” she babbled, trying to cover her embarrassment. 

“Yeah, you've done your hair all pretty, you've had a wash, clearly you've cleaned your clothes, you look… nice. I assume it's for Elder Maxson?” he quipped, nudging her with his elbow. 

“No!” she snapped, conviction in her words, but her face bloomed a deeper shade of red. “I just, I just had time to get properly clean for the first time in a while, what's wrong with that?” 

Nate eyed her cynically before dropping the conversation and turning to Danse. “How far out do we need to be before they can get us?” 

“This should be more than adequate Initiate,” Danse replied, clearly still annoyed that they'd not listened to his emotional speech about the Prydwen.

“Do you want to do the honours Paladin?” Nate replied, unfazed by his irritation. 

Danse nodded and took the grenade, ignited it and threw it away from them. "We could be waiting a while soldier," Danse directed at Wren before pulling Nate aside. 

She took the hint and wandered over to MacCready. 

"Not wanted any more?" he asked, glancing up from his rifle. 

"No, I think they're on about special Brotherhood stuff that I'm not allowed to know because I'm not an _Initiate_ ," she made dramatic quotations around her final word before flopping down next to MacCready on the ground. 

"Mmmm, you sure that's all they're talking about?" he retorted, eyebrows raised, pushing Wren to question the situation further. 

She flung back round to look in Nate's direction, to find him fiddling with something on the chest piece of Danse's armour. "No..." Her voice trailed off as she turned back to MacCready, mouth open, "you don't think they're," she looked back at them, Nate now stood hand on hip as Danse tossed his helmet in the air, "oh my god, are they _together?_ "

"What? No! I was only messing with you, I don't think they've even known each other that long, relax." 

"You don't know Nate as well as I do, not knowing someone very long has never stopped him before." 

MacCready held his hands up with a quiet "I don't know," before turning his attention back to his rifle, meticulously cleaning the stock. 

"Are you coming with us?" she asked, a pleading to her voice she hadn't intended.

He shook his head, "got somethings I need to sort out here, going to ask the vertibird to drop me off on the way." 

Wren nodded and looked back towards Nate and Danse, watching the two men share effortless conversation as she willed the vertibird to arrive and take her back to the relative comfort of the Prydwen.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren makes it back aboard the Prydwen.

"Lancer!" Evans called across the flight deck, storming towards the single vertibird left docked to the Prydwen. 

"Knight-Sergeant, Sir!" Lancer Micheals stopped her checks immediately, turning sharp on her heel to face Evans.

"Why are you preparing your vertibird for take off? Our team hasn't got any flights scheduled and even if we did, we couldn't do anything until another 'bird gets back!" 

"Sir, there's been a signal grenade ignited just outside of Goodneighbor, everyone else is too busy or too far away, Lancer Becks radioed me and asked me -" 

"One of our signal grenades?" Evans cut her off, his mind firing through ideas faster than Lancer Michaels was speaking. 

"Yes, well two actually, one after the other -" 

"And you're sure it's near Goodneigbor?" 

"I'm only going by what I've been told, but yes. They're never wrong about the location, Lancer Becks is pretty -" 

"Go!" he interrupted again, turning already to head back inside. 

"Knight-sergeant? That won't leave a vertibird here in case there's an emergency." 

"Lancer Michaels, you were preparing for take off a minute ago so don't act like a stickler for the rules now. But also, believe me, there isn't an emergency that would take priority over collecting who it is that's throwing those grenades. Go, now!" Before she had time to answer, he'd broken into a jog and by the time he'd reached the door to the command deck, he heard the vertibird engine fire up. 

\---------------------------------------------  
Arthur had been pacing round in circles since Evans had told him there'd been a signal grenade dropped near Goodneighbor, moving pieces of paper around his desk, and then moving them back on his next rotation. 

"How long exactly does it take for a vertibird to get to Goodneighbor and back?" he lashed out, snatching another folder from the desk. 

"You need to calm down," Evans replied, prying it from Arthur's grip and placing it back exactly where he'd picked it up from, "they'll get here when they get here -" 

"You sent a Lancer out on their own-" 

" _I_ sent?" Evans took a step towards Arthur, trying to look intimidating despite the difference in height. "Okay, well next time I'll be sure to leave Wren out there until -" 

"If anything happens-" Arthur started, closing the final small gap between them before a sharp knock at the door silenced their argument and Arthur shouted for whoever it was to enter, keeping his eyes trained on Evans, both men refusing to back down. 

Kells strode into the room, oblivious or unconcerned with their heated words and compromising position, "Elder, we've gathered the latest batch of initiates in the Command deck, it's time for your speech." He walked to the door, pausing to add, "you can pine over Miss Ellwood later, I'm sure Evans will still be here," before disappearing out of sight. 

Evans cracked, laughing as Arthur watched the empty space where Kells had been in disbelief, and stepped away from him. "It's been awhile since I watched your speech, I promise you she’ll be fine. Let's go." 

Arthur lead the way, their altercation long forgotten, the precocious air back in his walk and the Initiates parted in silence, allowing him to make his way to the front of the crowd. 

He clasped his hands behind his back and began, heat and passion in his words. 

But Evans had heard it all before, so he settled himself at the back of the crowd, leant against the wall and focussed on the reaction of the Initiates. He was transfixed with the look of awe painted on their faces, the adoration that Maxson commanded in a few short words; getting to know Arthur Maxson the person had made him forget how impressive 'Elder Maxson' was. 

"This is not optional Initiate, Elder Maxson is giving his speech and you will listen." Danse's unmistakable drawl echoed around the silent Command deck, despite his hushed voice. But it was the next voice that made Evans turn round. 

"Nate, for Christ's sake, we've only been here 30 seconds and you're already moaning!" Wren's melodic tone had him rushing across the floor to her and wrapping her in a tight hug before he even had chance to look her over. 

"So glad you're back Wren," he whispered. "You must be Nate," he added shaking his hand before turning to Danse, "it's good to see you again Paladin, you haven't missed much of the speech." 

Danse nodded with a small smile, "you need to hear this Initiate," he said, ushering Nate towards the crowd. 

Evans paused for a moment, unable to take his eyes off the scar running down her face; the skin taut and purple around the edges, it looked painful still despite the neat stitches that had patched the skin back together. If it had happened after her detail had been revoked, Arthur would never forgive himself. 

Before he had a chance to question her however, she covered it self consciously under his gaze. He decided to question her another time. 

"You might want to listen to this as well Wren," Evans prompted, placing his hand on her shoulder and directing her further into the room. 

She walked in front and he guided her to a suitable place to watch, somewhere with a clear view.

What he hadn't expected was that the kafuffle of manoeuvring around bodies would have distracted Arthur, alerting him to her presence and throwing him from the rhythm of his speech. 

Evans watched with stifled laughs as Wren caught Arthur's eye. A blush crept from her neck to her cheeks and she pulled her hair protectively over her right shoulder, a nervous smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. Arthur stopped pacing mid stride, his words sticking in his throat as he rolled his head to one side; Evans was sure that if he could do so discreetly he'd be tugging at the neck of his suit trying to gasp in cool air. They held that awkward gaze for a second before Wren glanced at the floor and Arthur seemed to snap back into the speech he was giving, the words so ingrained in his mind that he slotted back in perfectly. His pacing continued and he became just as animated and passionate as he was before, although he kept his gaze firmly away from where Evans and Wren were stood, skipping over them as if there were a void in the room. 

Once he had finished, the Initiates dispersed leaving the four of them awkwardly awaiting instruction from Arthur. He came over to Evans first, keeping his eyes firmly away from Wren. 

"Knight-Sergeant, I need to speak with Paladin Danse, would you be able to escort Miss Ellwood to the mess hall and I'll be sure to speak with you later."

Evans didn't reply, just stared at Arthur, willing him to talk to Wren, to at least acknowledge her. With the cue of a raised brow, Arthur got the hint, turning to Wren. 

"It's good to have you back on the Prydwen Wre- Miss Ellwood. I will... speak with you...soon?" Evans nodded, "yes… now that you’re back on board we need to discuss your future with the Brotherhood." 

"I -" Wren started 

"No. Wren let's go, there's a card game going on with the soldiers, you'll love it," Evans interrupted, taking Wren by the shoulders and guiding her from the room, he turned back after a few steps and mouthed _'idiot'_ harshly at Arthur before disappearing. 

Once they were out of sight, he released Wren's shoulders and she stopped, forcing him to look at her. 

"What was that all about?" she questioned. 

Evans rubbed at his eyes, debating how much to tell her.

"You'd think running an army, he'd have enough confidence to talk to a pretty girl." 

"What?" 

"Arthur, Elder Maxson. It's funny really seeing him flustered, anyway let's go." He rushed through his words, hoping that would be enough to calm her questions, and lead her by the hand through the corridors of the Prydwen, talking the entire time in an attempt to distract her. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------  
Without prompting Wren had explained the story behind her scar; a serious injury she wouldn't have sustained had the Knights that been assigned to ensuring her safety had been where they should have been. Wren’s assurance that she was fine, accompanied with her bright smile suppressed his anger at Arthur and his other superiors for calling the knights back and they joined a group of soldiers at their nightly game of caravan. 

She fitted in with the rest of the soldiers beautifully, Evans thought, watching as she laughed over someone cheating at the game, her rapport with the others incredibly natural. Maybe Arthur had a point about her being a valuable asset to the Brotherhood. 

The thought of Arthur resurfaced his anger at his flippant disregard for her safety and, emboldened by a few drinks, he decided now was the perfect time to confront him.

He walked over to Wren, leant close to her and whispered that he'd be back in a bit, trying not to disturb the game. 

He stormed from the room, running full force into Nate as he charged towards Arthur's quarters, the man catching him by the forearms to steady him. 

"Woah, on a mission?" he asked. 

"You could say that." 

"Knight-Sergeant Evans right?" 

"The one and only." He felt himself flush under Nate's intense gaze and fumbled over his next words; he was beginning to have a little sympathy for Arthur. "Call me Henry or just Evans though, 'Knight-Sergeant Evans' is a bit of a mouthful." 

"That so?" Nate replied with a coy smile and Evans had to clench his jaw to stop himself from giggling. 

Fuck, Nate was pretty. In all that Wren had said about him, she'd never once mentioned how attractive he was. 

"I'll let you get back to your mission, _Knight-Sergeant Evans_." 

Evans nodded and hurried past Nate, head down, and released the deep breath he'd been holding nervously the entire conversation. 

He knocked heavily on Arthur’s door, bursting through the second he was called to enter and was just about to start shouting about going to talk to Wren when he spotted Paladin Danse at the desk, folder open in front of him, glass of whiskey on the table. 

His glass. 

"Knight-Sergeant," Danse greeted, "congratulations." 

"Thank you Paladin. Elder, can I speak to you?" he asked, eyes narrowed in annoyance. 

"Sit, would you like something to drink?" Arthur answered, and Evans relented, needing little encouragement. "Danse and Knight Peters have been filling me in on what they know about the Institute, seems they need hunt down a courser..." 

"Seems sensible," Evans replied, put out at their private conversation. 

"I've been informing Danse about Miss Ellwood, her background and how I feel the Brotherhood need her."

Evans exchange a knowing look with Danse as he knocked back the shot of whiskey with a small smile, not missing that his glass was mismatching. Arthur poured him another and he swallowed that instantly. 

"What would you like to speak to me about Henry?" Arthur pried, sitting beside Evans as Danse continued flicking through the file, trying to give them as much privacy as was possible considering they were sat so close. 

"When have you _ever_ called me Henry? Trying to make sure I don't feel too put out now that Danse is back?" 

"Just say what you came to say, I don't have the patience for dramatics, _Henry._ " 

He was drunk. Evans knocked back his third shot and leaned forward on his elbows towards Arthur. "Have you seen her?," he said slowly, enunciating each word. 

Arthur leant back with a twitch of the corner of his mouth. 

“Have you seen Wren’s face?” Evans repeated, his gaze boring into Arthur. 

“Yes,” he replied quietly. 

“And? You know that she could have DIED! She was this close-“ he held his finger and thumb a fraction of an inch apart to reiterate his point, “what the fuck were you thinking letting her out there by herself?” 

“Knight-Sergeant!” Danse interrupted, his voice deep and commanding, “may I remind you that you are speaking to your _Elder._ ” 

Arthur held up his hand, placating Danse instantly. “It's okay Paladin, he's right.” He turned back to Evans, his eyes downcast and apologetic. “Yes I've seen it and I know it's my fault, do you not think I feel guilty about the situation? I’ve regretted my decision to let her into the Commonwealth from the day she set foot in Sanctuary.” 

“With all due respect Arthur,” Danse interrupted again, finally closing the folder in his lap, “I understand I don't know Miss Elwood as well as you both may do, but from what I've seen she is incredibly resilient and, as much as I detest the place, she settled into her life in Goodneighbor without issues. You shouldering the blame for her accident is taking away from her strength and determination to adapt to her new life. She is going to get hurt, everyone does, sheltering her and feeling guilty isn't going to stop it from happening again. What you need to do is teach her to be better, to help her to improve, not lock her away. She needs direction not protection.” 

Arthur and Evans sat in silence, both taking a moment to process Danse’s calm words, Arthur's head in his hands. 

“You're right,” he mumbled eventually. 

“Yeah, sorry Arthur,” Evans added. 

Arthur topped the three glasses almost to the rim, “what do I do now?” 

Danse nodded and slumped back in his chair, turning his attention back to the folder, leaving Evans to answer. 

“Go and talk to her!” 

“I don't –“ 

“Arthur, you've been talking about her none stop since she left, she's finally back on the Prydwen and you've ignored her all night!” 

Arthur sipped at his drink, managing to keep a straight face despite the burn Evans knew was assaulting his throat. 

“I wouldn't-“ 

“Stop making excuses! You need to speak to her, even Danse agrees with me, right Danse?" Evans turned slightly towards the Paladin, who threw the folder onto the table and joined the conversation. 

"I’ve made you aware of my feeling towards Miss Elwood. You could certainly choose worse women to pursue Arthur..." he added. 

"Exactly and that's like the highest recommendation you can get from Danse," who smiled and sipped at his whiskey. Evans and Arthur downed theirs in unison. 

"What am I meant to say to her?" he mumbled. 

"Maybe avoid talking about her future in the Brotherhood? Ask her about what she got up to in Goodneighbor, what her favourite foods are, if she likes reading, one of her favourite stories from her time as a nurse, there's so much!" 

"Just be yourself," Danse added. 

Evans shifted in front of him, blocking Arthur's view, "no, don't do that, just be a normal person, Elder Maxson gets weird around her... Just have another drink and then go speak to her." 

Arthur nodded and sunk back another large shot before pushing himself up from his seat and heading out the door, slinking gracelessly around the corner. 

"Should we go with him?" Danse asked pouring them both another drink. 

"No, he'll mess it up if we’re there or not, may as well let him make his own mistakes. And besides, _you_ , need to tell me more about Nate," Evans replied taking his glass and shifting now to face Danse.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur and Wren have a heart-to-heart, however brief it may be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, I managed to get them both under control after this chapter. But awkward blushing Maxson is my jam and I couldn't help it.

Arthur stumbled a little down the corridor, serving as he flicked his hair out of his face, trying to tame the errant pieces that were breaking free of his usually neat style, a reminder of the long day he'd had. 

By the time he'd made it to the rec room, having swiped a near empty bottle of whiskey and gulped it down on the way, there were only a few soldiers left dotted around the room, quiet conversations ceasing the moment they noticed his presence. He straightened his back, stepped carefully and methodically towards Wren, his focus just in front of his footfall, _step, step, step_ ; they'd never know he was drunk so long as he didn't stumble. 

When he finally looked up from the floor Wren was watching him, her brows knitted together in concern. 

"Miss Ellwood." He nodded to her, making sure to keep his weight on his back foot so he didn't topple forward. 

"You can call me Wren, Elder Maxson, just sit down please," she rushed to move a chair for him to sit in, and he lowered himself down slowly. 

"And you... can call me Arthur." He was pretty sure that had come out smoothly, not creepy, but she blushed pink and pulled her hair over her right shoulder, smoothing it down as she took her seat again, and he tried to change the subject, raking through his jumbled thoughts to pinpoint something Evans had suggested. 

"Are you drunk Arthur?" she asked before he could say anything else. 

"Ummm... Yes." There was no point lying to a nurse. She collected her hair over her shoulder again, fiddling with the back a few times before smoothing down the wayward strands, an act of comfort maybe? A weird tick? Maybe another time he'd ask her about it. 

"Why’d you keep doing that?" Or maybe now, the words tumbling from his mouth before he could stop them. 

"Do-doing what?" she stuttered. 

"That thing with... the hair." He mimicked her actions to show what he meant, running a hand a little to vigorously across his neck and knocking himself off balance. 

"I don't know," she confessed, flicking the mass of hair back over her shoulder. He righted himself and dug his fingers painfully into his eyes in an attempt to sober himself. 

"I wan'ed to talk to you... ‘bout..." he trailed off, his mind cloaked in a drunken haze. 

"My future in the Brotherhood?" she suggested with a smirk. 

"No!" Despite his dizzying thoughts, he clearly remembered Evans begging him to avoid that topic. "Jus’ ‘bout... you." He could feel the words slurring as they left his mouth and tried to straighten himself up, really focus on the conversation. 

She shifted in her chair, positioning herself for a better view of him, "what do you want to know?" 

He tried to pull his gaze away from the scar that marred her perfect face, cut through the delicate skin like.... his eyes began to drift close, the room spinning around him.

"Arthur, are you okay?" 

"I... I need my quarters," he hurried, pushing himself abruptly from his seat only to be knocked back down by a crashing wave of nausea. 

"Take it slow, I'll help you," she said, tucking herself under his arm to help steady him as he tried again to stand. 

In any other situation, Arthur would have enjoyed having her pressed so close, the heat from her body radiating even through his coat. They walked back to his quarters like that, Wren engulfed in the mass of Arthur's coat and arm, but providing a surprising amount of support for him. 

He considered everything she'd been through, all that she'd lost, and how fragile and delicate she looked next to him now; he was in awe that it hadn't destroyed her. He wanted to say something to her, let her know that he thought she was … was what? Word weren't coming to him anymore so he decided to keep quiet. 

They paused at the door to his quarters as she tried to pry it open without letting Arthur fall. 

"Evans 'n' Danse... in there," Arthur mumbled and she settled on kicking it hard to alert them. 

Evans flung open the door, catching Arthur as he stumbled forward and threw Arthur's spare arm over his shoulder to steady him. 

"Fucking hell Arthur! Wren are you alright?" 

"Mmhmm, can we just get him in?" she strained, Arthur now resting half of his weight on her as he gradually lost control over his legs. 

By the time his head hit the pillow he was almost asleep, only vaguely aware of delicate hands removing his coat and moving him to his side, pulling his hand to support his face and brushing his hair away from his eyes with more care than he'd ever done. 

\------------------------------------------------

He awoke the next morning to a few cans a purified water, some Sugarbombs and a glass of some kind of gruel on his table. He'd heard someone moving around early in the morning, but blinding pain behind his eyes had anchored him to the bed, fusing his eyes closed in a desperate attempt to keep out any errant stray of light. 

He stumbled over to the table, crashing his hands down roughly to keep his balance. There was a note propped against the glass, delicate script dancing across the page. 

_Arthur,_  
_I hope you aren't feeling too awful this morning. I made you the famous "Ellwood Hangover Cure" (I had to substitute some ingredients but it should still work) My dad and brothers used to swear by it._  
_When your stomach's settled enough, drink it all in one go, wash it down with a can of water and go back to sleep, you should feel better._  
_Quinlan wants to speak to me today, but I'm sure I'll be free at some point for you to ask me some questions about myself..._  
_Wren_

She'd signed an extravagant 'X' beneath her name and Arthur puzzled over it for a few seconds before a splitting pain in his head abolished all concentration. He chugged the "hangover cure", ignoring the slimy feel of it trickling down his throat and washed away the sour taste with some water, before crawling back into bed, still unsure how early it was. 

When he awoke again, he felt brave enough to check the time – 8:30 – and realised he hadn't slept for as long as he thought. Despite that, he felt almost back to normal; the pain in his head had vanished and his muscles no longer ached, he dressed quickly, splashing a little cold water on his face and set off to find Evans, grabbing Wren's note before leaving his room. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

He eventually found Evans in the mess hall, chatting with newly appointed Knight Peters. As he approached, Evans signalled something to Nate, too discreetly for Arthur to fully see, and he stood, muttering something about second helpings and offered his seat to Arthur with a respectful nod. 

"So, how did last night go?" Evans asked, a smug smile spread broad across his face. 

"You know very well how it went, stop being facetious and look at this." Arthur thrust the note as Evans who read it though quickly. 

"Did it work? The hangover cure?" 

"Yes, but that's not why I wanted you to read it. What does this mean?" He asked pointing below her name. "Why sign off a letter with the number ten? Is it some kind of code that I don't understand?" 

Evans held up his hands, "no idea, you sure that's what it is? Could be an initial?" 

"No, that doesn't make sense-" 

"I'm sorry can I interrupt?" Nate sat himself beside Evans before either of them could invite him. "You're talking about a note from Wren?" 

Arthur stared at him suspiciously, "How did you..." 

"I can recognise Wren's writing from a mile away, all the swirls and fancy tails." Nate whipped the note from Evans' hands and read through it before snorting as he reached the end. "Is that what you're debating?" He pointed to the 'X' with a smile. 

"Yeah," Evans replied for Arthur. 

"It’s a fucking kiss!" Evans and Arthur gawked at him, still no more in the picture as to it's meaning. "Oh my god, you actually are all like Danse! Umm what's the dictionary definition... The 'X' is symbolic of a kiss. It's an affectionate way to end a letter. How long would you have spent agonising over that if I wasn't here?" 

"Watch your tone _Knight,_ " Arthur reprimanded, trying to distract from the deep blush that was creeping up his face, due in equal parts to his obliviousness and the meaning behind it. _Symbolic of a kiss._ He cleared his throat gruffly, trying to regain his air of authority. 

"Apologies Sir." 

The three men sat in silence for a moment before Nate began chuckling to himself. 

"What can you possibly be finding amusing about this situation Knight?" Arthur asked, holding his hand out for the note.

Nate folded it and placed it in Arthur's hand, "just funny that she probably spent as much time debating whether to write it, as you did confused about it." 

Arthur opened the note to look at it again, "dismissed Knight." 

"But I – this is the mess hall, you-" 

"Dismissed. Knight." 

With an apologetic nod from Evans, Nate stood with a stiff back and stalked out the room, leaving Arthur and Evans both staring at the note. 

\---------------------------------------------

The rest of the day went by in a flurry of meetings and reports, mainly from Nate and Danse, who explained in more detail both about what they'd already discovered about the Institute, and also what their next steps were. Nate was adamant that he only wanted Danse to accompany him, and with Danse's agreement, Arthur authorised them both to travel back to the Commonwealth to hunt down the Courser Nate had been attempting to track. 

Although he usually avoided "no questions asked" situations, the amount of information Nate Peters had brought was more than enough to warrant Arthur turning a blind eye to any possible indiscretions. For now. 

It had been dark for a few hours before Arthur made it back to his quarters. Although the spring days were short, he'd been awake for nearly twelve hours and his body, still weakened from his state of inebriation the night before, was begging for sleep. He shucked his coat and boots, pushing his jumpsuit to his waist as he flitted around his quarters, organising the files and reports that had been dumped on his desk throughout the day. 

Seconds before he was about to crawl into bed there was a knock at the door. Arthur groaned, contemplating whether to just stay quiet and hope whoever it was went away. 

"Elder Maxson?" 

_Wren._

Arthur almost fell over himself attempting to redress, knocking the corner of the table as he flew to the door, wrenching it open. 

"Wren," he panted, attempting - and failing -to sound as nonchalant as possible. 

"I'm sorry if I've disturbed you," she replied, clocking his slight breathlessness and somewhat dishevelled appearance, "is everything alright?" 

"Yes, everything's fine. Would you like to come in?" He gestured towards his room, embarrassed at the assortment of folders, empty bottles and glasses that littered his room. 

"I... ummm, okay," she finally spluttered, tugging her hair over her shoulder while she walked past Maxson. 

They sat in silence for a moment, Wren fiddling with her hair and Arthur flicking through topics of conversation. 

“I was just wondering how you were feeling after last night?” she eventually asked, breaking the awkward silence. 

“Much better, thank you for whatever it was you left for me. What was in it exactly?” 

“You really don't want to know Arthur,” she said with a chuckle and they returned to silence. 

“I… ummm,” Arthur started, his words uncharacteristically falling short. 

“Elder, have I done something wrong? You've been acting strange since… well since I got back to the Prydwen really…” 

He thought about what Evans would tell him to do if he was here, undoubtedly he'd be screaming at him to swallow his pride and explain to her what he was feeling. So he took a deep breath and tried to put whatever it was he was feeling into words. 

“No, you've done nothing. This is all me… I don't really know how to say this, it isn't something I've ever experienced before…” he stood up, clamping his hands behind his back and tried to imagine he was giving a speech; that, he could do. “Even the fact that I’m struggling to speak to you openly now is ridiculous… I’m not sure if you’re aware, but I was sent to the Brotherhood by my mother at ten years old, and from that time I’ve been surrounded by people who have seen me as the future of the Brotherhood, their next leader - whether the fact that you are a complete outsider from all that has anything to with my behaviour, I don’t know. It's just that for some reason, you make me incredibly nervous. I want to talk to you, get to know you better, but every time I try my mind goes blank and I can't think straight." 

He paused and turned to gauge her response , having not been able to bring himself to look at her while he was talking, to find her smiling, her cheeks a little pink. 

"That must sound absurd to you, it certainly does to me..." he concluded, flopping back into his seat adamant he'd sounded like a fool. 

"No, Arthur that doesn't sound stupid at all, in fact I-" 

"Elder Maxson!" Evans' panicked voice was accompanied by him frantically pounding on the door; something was clearly very wrong. Arthur flew from his seat and flung open the door. "Elder, you need to come and sort – oh hey Wren..." He looked to Arthur again after noticing Wren behind him, with his eyebrow raised, but Arthur waved him away. 

"I'll come right away, Wren I'm sorry to cut this short but we can continue our conversation another time. Sleep well." 

She exited the room without question and gently touched Arthur's arm as she passed, sending a deep blush from his neck to his cheeks and when she was out of sight Evans slapped at Arthur's bicep with the back of his hand. 

"Hey! What was that?" he asked, excitedly. 

"We were just talking, focus soldier! What's happening?" 

"Oh right, a huge fight has broken out about allowing Wren to stay on board..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Kicker and the rest of the NaNo group for the idea of Arthur thinking the 'X' was a 10 ;)


	14. Chapter 14

Arthur was beyond angry as he stormed towards the mess hall, Evans jogging beside him to keep up.

“So… Wren?” he asked, finally falling into step.  
“Knight-Sergeant!” 

“Sorry, it's just I really thought you'd blown everything last night.”

Arthur sped up, attempting to lose Evans.  
“I think you’ve still got a chance, especially if she found -”

“STOP! There are more important things to be thinking about at the moment besides my love life!”

“So you admit that you’re interested in her romantically?”

Arthur just turned and stared Evans down until he clamped his mouth shut.

As they rounded into the mess hall, Arthur understood the urgency in Evans’ summoning; it was chaos - soldiers of all standings were beating each other into bloody pulps, screams and shouts drowned out any other sounds, and those few officers who were attempting to negotiate some peace were being dragged into the fight themselves.

“Utter clusterfuck isn’t it?” Evans commented, folding his arms and leaning against the doorway.

“And this is all because of Wren?”

“Some people are really angry that she’s being allowed to stay here when they had to work so hard to even get initiated, and some people are really angry at them… add some drinks and -” he waved his arm over the scene in front of them.

By this point the majority of the ship’s personnel had gathered to see exactly what was going on, the noise from the ruckus reaching all ends of the Prydwen.

Enough was enough. 

“Soldiers!” Arthur shouted, but he went largely ignored; the few men and women who turned to look at him quickly being dragged back into fighting. He looked around the room, searching for something he could use to make enough noise to silence the fighting, eventually spotting a thick metal pole propped behind the counter, which he smacked against the wall of the mess hall with enough force that the whole room seemed to vibrate.

“ENOUGH!” he bellowed, his stern tone and the sharp rings of metal finally drawing enough attention to calm the ruckus. “This behaviour is unacceptable Evans, Kells line them up!” The two officers wasted no time in man-handling the soldiers into a semi organised line, some of them in an incredibly sorry state. “I am under the impression that this… this-”

“Shit-show?” Evans offered.

“Yes. I am under the impression that this is because of the hospitality that has been extended to Miss Ellwood?”

A low mumble rippled through the line and one Knight near the end took another swing at the man next to him, stopped only when Evans swiftly caught his wrist and yanked it sharply behind the Knight’s back.

Arthur nodded his appreciation to Evans and continued, “understand this, I do nothing that is not for the advancement of the Brotherhood, do NOT doubt that. I have my reasons for providing Miss Ellwood with resources, reasons that, at this moment in time, are not relevant for all to be made aware of. Fighting your Brothers and Sisters is inexcusable, _but_ , this has been a long trip, I am aware that a lot of you are frustrated at the lack of action, so this time, and _only_ this time, I will grant some leniency in punishment. But if I hear that any of you so much as look at each the wrong way regarding this topic again, your punishment will be severe! Do I make myself clear?”

The line of soldiers mumbled a quiet agreement.

DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!”

“Yes sir!” they replied, this time with more enthusiasm.

“Captain Kells, I trust I can leave dealing out the punishments to you?”

“Of course, Elder,” Kells smiled, clasping his hands behind his back and mirroring Maxson’s stance in front of the line of soldiers. “Right, fuckers, playtime’s over-”

Maxson walked away before he could hear whatever it was that Kells had in store, and Evans followed quickly behind, waiting until they were inside Maxson’s quarters before he spoke.

“You never did like to get your hands dirty did you?” 

“Evans, do I look like i’m in the mood for you right now?”

“Don’t be a dick to me because you’re frustrated! What the hell? Why would you go easy on them? For a start, did you _see_ half of them? They’ve dealt out some serious damage that’s going to take a hell of a lot of supplies to fix, and second of all, fuck! This was all about Wren, they were out of line and all you did was tell them to trust you! What about not being fucking shits to someone who actually works a damn-sight harder than most of them to help out? What about maybe, just maybe, treating a decent person with some respect? And just handing over to Kells, fuck man, cowardly move! Everyone gets punishment from Kells, sure they’re fucking awful, but they’re a dime a dozen, they don’t mean shit anymore. But a punishment from you? Well that would actually make them fucking think about what they’ve done! Do your own dirty work for a change!”

Arthur dropped his head to his hands, covering his face while Evans ranted. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“What? Why are you - what? Don’t apologise to me.”

“But you’re right, I dealt with that all wrong. It’s just… maybe i’m being unrealistic, but for a little while I felt like I was able to be a normal man, I could have normal conversations about normal things-”

“You mean talking about how much you like a 230 year-old girl, in your blimp, while an army of people _you_ control try to track down a mysterious faction that’s making robots that look like people? There is nothing about that situation that’s _normal_.” 

“It was to me. I just wanted, even if it was just for a little while, to be able to experience what everyone else does. But that -” he flicked his hand dismissively, trying to find the right word“-debacle, down there illustrated very clearly that having any semblance of a _‘normal’_ life just isn’t a possibility. Ellwood needs to be initiated, she can join your squad as of tomorrow, i’ll let you share the good news.”

“What? Arthur, no. Don’t let those idiots ruin this for you! You know as soon as Wren’s initiated it’s going to be so much more difficult for anything to happen!”

Arthur ignored him, continuing as if Evans had said nothing. “As her superior officer, you’ll be in charge of her training, I trust that you’ll make the correct judgement on her position in the Brotherhood, whether that is in the field or in research.” 

His voice was flat and Evans recognised that a fight with Arthur was pointless, Elder Maxson had spoken and that was the end of it.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wren wandered back to the bed she'd claimed as her own, trying to ignore the shouts of disgruntled soldiers. 

_“She doesn't deserve to be here!”_

_“She's a valuable asset!”_

_“She's not pulling her weight”_

A back and forth of insults and defences, a battle that had started due to a few drinks and few noses out of joint. It was nothing she couldn't handle -there were already people there defending her - getting involved herself would only escalate the issue, and regardless of the outcome of the fight, she'd resolved to speak to Arthur tomorrow to discuss how she could contribute more. 

As her eyes finally drifted closed she felt the bed dip and she begrudgingly rolled over to find Paladin Danse perched on the corner of the mattress. 

“Paladin,” she said, quickly scooting against the cold wall so she was sitting, “is everything alright?”

“I was going to ask you the same question,” he replied.

“I… yeah. I get why people are mad, you said so yourself that I'm effectively a drain on resources.”  
“That's not at all what I meant Miss Ellwood-”  
“Call me Wren,” she interjected, tired now of the constant overuse of her surname.

“Wren, that wasn't what I meant at all. Had I known then what I know about you now it's clear why Elder Maxson has chosen to extend the Brotherhood's hospitality to you for so long.”

“I am going to start pulling my weight more, I just haven't had a chance to speak to Elder Maxson yet…” she offered feebly.

“That's not an attack Wren. You've worked hard since…” he trailed off and Wren saw the flash of panic as he whittled through how to finish his sentence without possibly upsetting her, “since you woke up, and that hasn't gone unnoticed. In fact there's a great deal more people down there shouting your praises than otherwise. But if you’re serious about wanting to contribute to the Brotherhood, I have the authority to promote you to the rank of initiate.”

He paused for a second, allowing her chance to process his offer.

“It's possibly not the most professional way to go about this, seeing as we’re on the Prydwen under Elder Maxson’s control, but it appears like a promotion from him will take some time, considering he’s yet to have a proper conversation with you…”

“I'd be in your team?” 

“Yes. You already know half of us, Knight Rhys and Scribe Haylen are currently the only other members, so it would be nice to add to our numbers.”

“I'd like that,” she concluded with a smile.

“Good, now get some sleep. You'll be called for at 0600 when I expect you to be dressed and ready for training.” 

“Yes, sir,” she replied with a salute and Danse pushed himself from her bed.

“Ad Victoriam, Initiate Ellwood.” 

The shouts had subsided and she managed to fall asleep quickly, although she was still plagued as normal with fitful sleep, panicked dreams waking her every few hours.

 

\--------------------------------

 

Danse’s training regimes were gruelling; laps upon laps of the airport, topped off with a mixture of press ups, sits up, pull ups and squats. After an hour Wren could feel herself tiring, her lungs screamed, but with everyone's eyes on her she forced herself through, determined to prove her doubters wrong, comforting herself with the fact there couldn’t be much more Danse could get them to do.

When he finally called time and ordered the four of them to get something to eat and drink, Wren was about ready to collapse.

“You're something else Initiate,” Haylen commented as they slumped together at a table, “I don't know anyone who’s managed to finish one of Danse’s training sessions first time.”

“It's not really my first training session though, Knight-Sergeant Evans trained me for a while, but this was considerably more difficult.”

“Even Nate struggled to get through his first one though,” Haylen added with a nod in his direction, Nate was oblivious, too busy trying to wind Rhys up to take much notice of their conversation.

“Granted it was out in the field and he had been travelling for a few days straight- but you still did good!” 

“Thanks,” she replied, a little dejected after Haylen’s addition.

“Right team,” Danse cut in, “time to get back up to the Prydwen, myself and Knight Peters are due to have a meeting with Elder Maxson, so the day is yours to do with as you wish, we’ll skip our weapons training for the day.” 

\----------------------------------------------------

Wren spent the rest of the day with Haylen sharing stories; Haylen of her time as a field scribe and Wren astounding her with techniques and equipment she used before the war.

The day passed quickly, a blur of conversations, armour checks, weapon checks and medical examinations. When she finally got chance to make it to the mess hall, she inhaled her plate of food in seconds. 

“Hungry?” Nate asked flopping next to her, his own plate of food in hand. 

“I've not stopped all day!” she replied.

“I know, Danse and Haylen are really impressed.”

“And Rhys?” she probed. She’d barely spoken to the Knight all day, his permanent scowl putting her off any attempt at conversation. 

“Rhys wouldn't be impressed if you could fart your allegiance to the Brotherhood whilst juggling laser rifles-” Wren scoffed at the imagery, “-he’ll be impressed when you prove yourself worthy.”

“When I prove myself worthy? What’s that meant to mean?”

“It means the Brotherhood saved him, it's his life and the soldiers are his family. As far as he's concerned we’re just novelties that have no place fighting alongside his brothers and sisters who have proved themselves time and time again.”

“That's ridiculous, we wouldn't be here if we weren't willing to fight just as hard as everyone else!”

“It's not ridiculous Wren, I know I wind him up but I know exactly how he feels. I don't know if Haylen’s filled you in on the old squad, but there used to be more of them before they came to Commonwealth. And you end up closer to your squad than you could imagine, you rely on them for everything and you have to trust them with your life, because half of the time they're the only thing keeping you alive. But when one of you dies and then they get replaced by a new person, who for all intents and purposes may be just as good but just isn't them, it feels like a kick in the gut. So, cut him some slack and bear in mind that to him, right now you're just some poser who’s trying to take the place of someone who died when he didn't. Believe me, we’ve got a long way to go to win him over, but we’ll get there.”

He turned to his food, happily guzzling down his portion as if his insight was nothing more than a comment on what pleasant weather they were having. 

“I didn't realise about their squad, it makes sense I suppose. Should I talk to him?”

Nate shook his head, mouth full of food, and gestured to Danse, Haylen and Rhys who were approaching their table, “just be yourself, don't make a big deal out of it…”

“Ellwood, I was just telling Rhys that you stitched your face up yourself!” Haylen said, dropping herself in the seat opposite Wren. “He begrudgingly admitted that it was pretty impressive.” 

Nate knocked her foot with his and gave her a small smile.

“Thanks, but it's not really that much of a big deal. If I hadn't stitched it, it'd have ended up looking a lot worse than it is,” Wren replied, reaching a hand towards the scar before stopping herself and cramming it into her lap.

“Exactly. That's what I said Haylen. She was just doing what she had to,” Rhy muttered before turning his attention to his food. 

“Ignore him, I couldn't have done it and neither could he, so that's impressive enough in my book,” Haylen commented with a kind smile. 

“The reason I gathered you all together was to explain to you what came of mine and Nate’s meeting with the Elder,” Danse interrupted, tired of their chatter. “As I'm sure you're aware, the next step in breaking into the Institute is to acquire the chip held within a coursers head. As Knight Peters has a certain vested interest in gaining access to the Institute, Elder Maxson has appointed myself and Knight Peters to carry out the mission. We are fairly confident now that we are able to track down the target, and as such we will be leaving tomorrow in search of the courser. As the most senior squad member Knight Rhys will be in charge of training while we are away-” he turned to Rhys “-I need not remind you of Initiate Ellwood's personal situation and lack of experience, training should be tailored to her development. If you're struggling, Knight-Sergeant Evans can be of some assistance.” 

“You called?” Evans appeared behind Rhys his hands kneading into his shoulders; a gesture that seemed far too friendly for Rhys to be on the receiving end on.

“Paladin Danse has left me in charge of training while they go off to hunt a courser, said you can help me whip Ellwood into shape if I needed it,” Rhys replied, expression still deadpan, but with a mischievous twinkle behind his eyes. 

“That so?” Evans replied, a shit-eating grin spread from ear to ear, “well now that she's officially an initiate, seems I don't have to extend the same civilities as when she was a _‘guest’_.”

“You want to help?” Rhys asked.

“Well I was looking forward to having her in my squad, so I'm not going to pass up the chance to play drill sergeant. You best be getting to bed Ellwood, you've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow.” 

“Are you joking?” she spluttered.

“Not in the slightest, time to see if you're really Brotherhood material,” Rhys replied.

“And just so you know, Danse’s training sessions are nothing compared to what you’ll be doing tomorrow, you'll be wishing Danse was here to make you run laps,” Evans added.

Wren turned to Haylen, panic knitted across her features.

“It's okay, you'll do fine,” she said, placing a gentle hand on her arm.

“Are they being serious?” Wren asked frantically.

Haylen and Danse shared a look but kept quiet.

“Paladin! Are they… how bad is it going to be!” 

“Let's just say that if you manage to get through tomorrow without breaking down then you'll actually have earned my respect,” Rhys said and Nate let out a low whistle, pushing his plate away and standing, before placing a hand on Wren’s shoulder.

“Bet you wish you were coming to hunt a courser now, huh?” he joked.

“Wren, I'm not joking about getting to bed, we expect you to be down at the airport ready to train by 0500,” Evans added.

She looked between everyone sat at the table, silently begging one of them to proclaim the whole thing a joke, but when Evans and Rhys shouted a harsh “go!” in unison, she shot from the table and made her way swiftly to her bed, determined to surprise them in the morning.

“10 caps says she’s crying before dinner,” Evans bet, turning to Rhys with a smile.

“No, she's got something to prove. I think she's going to surprise you.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys and Evans put Wren to the test

Wren was dressed and waiting ready for Evans and Rhys at the airport for 4:45. Ready may have been an exaggeration however, their taunting the previous night making her imagination run wild.

_You can do this. You spent 200 years in a freezer. You survived an attack from an 8 foot green mutant. You can take this on._

She repeated the mantra over and over until the words lost meaning. Her brother had once run her through a training drill he'd been completed when he joined the army, the first time she ran it, she'd almost collapsed, her legs failing to carry her any further, but she'd pushed through it, determined to get to the end, if only to spend more time with Reid. If she could do that when she was only 10 years old, she could do this now.

That was the plan anyway. 

Evans and Rhys joined her at five on the dot, both looking considerably more cheerful than she did.

“Initiate Ellwood, you're looking positively ravishing this morning,” Evans joked, nodding towards the mismatched training gear she'd managed to piece together after her set mysteriously vanished from the end of her bed during the night.

“Thank you , sir!” she replied, eyes forward and back straight. She had no idea what she was doing, but she'd seen enough training sessions with drill sergeants to have a general idea of the etiquette.

“I hope you warmed up while you were waiting Initiate?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” 

“Good. Let's get started. First things first, you see that big fucking building jutting out over there?” He pointed out to the horizon, where a tall building stood stark against the drab landscape. “You're going to run to it and back in 15 minutes.”

She recognised the building in question and was fairly confident she knew exactly how far away it was. “Are you kidding me?” she exclaimed, forgetting herself for a moment, “that's got to be 2 miles-”

“2.1 total trip if I remember correctly” Evans interrupted, “and are you back-chatting me initiate?”

“No, sir. But I'm never going to do it in 15 minutes… sir” she added as an afterthought.

“Well no, because now you only have 14 minutes. GO INITIATE!”

She didn't need to be told twice, stealing a quick look at the time before breaking out into a sprint.   
5:04. So long as she was back before 5:18…

_You can do this. You spent 200 years in a freezer. You survived an attack from an 8 foot green mutant. You can take this on,_ she told herself again. But after only a few seconds she could already feel herself beginning to slow.   
She kept her eyes on the building, focussing her concentration on keeping her feet moving in a steady rhythm and away from her pounding heart and painful breaths.

As she slammed her hand against the building wall, she chanced a look at her pipboy again; 5:13 and she was only half way. She took as deep a breath as she could manage, her lungs now burning, and sprinted as quickly as she could possibly manage back to Evans and Rhys, her mantra drowned out by the hammering of her heartbeat in her ears.

As she approached she could see Rhys was sat on a crate, utterly disinterested as he twiddled a knife in his hands, chipping away at the wood of the box. But as she skidded to a halt in front of them he looked up and Evans clicked his stopwatch, silent as he took in the time.

“Fuuuuuck. 16 minutes 28…”

“That’s… that’s actually really impressive newbie,” Rhys added, jumping from the crate and throwing a can of water towards Wren.

“Th-thanks,” she panted, her hands on her knees as she tried desperately to draw air into her stinging lungs. She took a few sips of water before Evans held out his hand for it, any admiration for her run time vanished.

“Next, sparring. And because you already know all my moves, you’ll be fighting Rhys.”

Before he’d even finished speaking Rhys had tackled Wren to the ground, using his knees to pin her arms down painfully; the air she’d worked so hard to take in forced from her lungs.

“That’s - not, you’ve got-” her words broken up with choking coughs, “Rhys, fuck off!!”

He laughed, the noise sounding weird coming from such a hard face, but he got off her all the same, giving her the chance to catch her breath.

“You’ve got to give me chance to process what you’ve said!” she finally spat out.

“That’s not what’s going to happen in the real-” Evans started, but she already knew what he was going to say and before he’d finished, she’d tackled Rhys to the floor, mirroring his earlier position with her knees digging into his shoulders, her hands wrapped gently around his neck. 

“Fair play Ellwood,” Rhys commented, another slight chuckle seeming to escape his throat. 

She jumped off him and helped him up, dusting the dirt from her knees and readying herself to fight again.

She quickly learnt Rhys’ style - favouring sweeping blows in an attempt to knock her over - and they fought together until Rhys called time. 

“Done Ellwood?” Evans asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, hoping she conveyed _i’m fine to keep going_ , as she was so breathless she didn't trust herself to speak.

“Let’s call it a day on that, we need to find your weapon and do some target practice,” Evans thankfully replied.

The rest of the day continued in the same fashion, Rhys and Evans demanding more from Wren than she thought possible, and her pushing every boundary she knew in an attempt to appease them. They’d stopped for only 10 minutes to have something to eat- a thick clumpy liquid that Evans assured her was edible - so after another 2 mile run (this one taking her nearly 20 minutes to complete) she was starving, her stomach growling viciously. 

“I think we’re done for the day,” Rhys commented once she got back to them.

“Are you kidding? It’s not even 1 yet, the day’s still young Rhys!” Evans replied.

Wren groaned from her position of the floor, willing her muscles to move her to a standing position.

“What next?” she asked.

“Initiate, I don’t say this very often but i’m impressed with what you’ve done today. Get in the showers and get some rest. You deserve it,” Rhys said, handing her another can of water.

“Same time tomorrow?” she asked, her voice waving at the end in a veiled plea.

“No, rest up. Knight-Sergeant Evans just wants to do some more target practice with you tomorrow.” And with that he walked away, climbing into the vertibird that was waiting to return to the Prydwen.

“How was that Wren?” Evans asked once Rhys was out of earshot, pulling her now limp body from the ground.

“Awful,” she groaned.

“You did phonomonly. I’m really impressed and so is Rhys, and that’s a huge compliment.” She smiled and Evans wrapped an arm protectively around her shoulder, “seriously though, you need to get in the showers, you stink.”

She swatted him away, but trudged obediently towards the helipad to wait for the next vertibird back to the Prydwen.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Evans waited a few days before reporting to Elder Maxson, file clutched under one arm and a half empty bottle of whiskey in the other.

Maxson opened the door to his quarters, after a few impatient knocks, with a look of utter contempt on his face. Evans shifted the bottle out of view and straightened his back, perhaps he already had company?

“Elder Maxson, the report on Initiate Ellwood-"

“Surely Paladin Danse should be presenting this to me?” Maxson shot back.

“Well normally, yes. But Paladin Danse isn't here and I'm the most superior officer who has been training-”

“Paladin Danse can give me his own report when he returns,” Maxson interrupted, beginning to close the door before he'd even finished his sentence. 

No company, he was just moping.

Evans caught the door just before it latched, “or, you can read through my perfectly good report now. What's the matter with you?”

“Knight-Sergeant Evans, let me remind you who your are speaking to-”

“Don't start that bullshit, I'm coming in.” Evans didn't give him time to argue, catching Maxson off guard as he pushed into the room, dropping the file and bottle onto the desk. “So why are you in such a bad mood?”

Maxson glared at him before popping two glasses on the table and uncorking the bottle. 

“I _told_ you to think about what would happen if you initiated Wren, I think you _like_ having something to be miserable about!” 

Maxson just took a drink and flipped through the folder lazily. “So how is she doing?”

“Great, fantastic, best I've seen. But that's besides the point, I was on a roll having a go at you!” 

“Scribe or Knight?” 

“She's a fantastic nurse and a great teacher so I'm tempted to say scribe, but she's improving so much in her field training that I'm reluctant to lose her…”

Maxson rubbed at his beard, if it was possible, his eyes looked more tired than normal. “Hmm we’ll see how Danse feels when he returns. Was that all Knight-Sergeant?”

“Was it fuck! You're a mess, you're the Elder of the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel, you're the last Maxson and you're sat here moping around because someone once mentioned about relationships between soldiers of different ranks being inappropriate?” 

Evans hadn't touched his drink before Maxson filled his glass again and took a deep swig. “It is inappropriate.”

“Yeah, well… maybe it is. But there's got to be an exception. You and-”

“The other senior members of the Brotherhood would never allow it.”

“Look I'm not saying go round the ship declaring your love for her-” Evans didn't miss Maxson’s awkward shift in his seat and the slight blush to his cheeks, but he continued anyway “-but fuck the other senior members of the Brotherhood, everyone knows they took advantage of you to get control of the East Coast back, but they don't get to control you any more. You're their commanding officer, if they've got a problem just tell them to go fuck themselves.” He finally saw his drink off, cringing at the harsh burn down his throat.

“You really are naive enough to think that's all there is to it, aren't you?” Maxson commented after scrutinizing Evans for a moment.

“That's all there _is_ to it!” Evans replied. He was getting angry now, needing very little encouragement to direct it at the senior officers. “What you says goes, and if they don't like it? Well they've got to take a good look at themselves, seeing as you pretty much just regurgitate their bullshit rhetoric.”

As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it. He sat, frozen to the spot and eyes wide, as Maxson debated how to reply, the silence seeming to stretch for an eternity.

“Their _bull shit rhetoric_ is the foundation of the Brotherhood of Steel. The Brotherhood that you _pledged_ to serve!”

“I-”

“This is ridiculous! I will not have my soldiers fighting and questioning the Brotherhood over an _initiate!_ This is the last conversation we are having regarding Initiate Ellwood-”

“No no no no!” Evans rushed, “I’ve always hated the seniors, ask anyone. Wren’s got nothing to do with it! I'm pissed, because whether you realise it or not they've manipulated you to run the Brotherhood the way _they_ want it run. You're a great leader, no doubt about it, but you need to take control! You're a fucking Maxson! When I was younger they used to tell stories of how your soul was forged in steel, how you fought off deathclaws singlehandedly, fuck the senior officers! Who gives a shit! _You’re_ in charge here, not them!” Evans had stood from his seat and began pacing agitatedly as he spoke, his anger reaching a crescendo before he flopped back down in his chair.

“And this is all because of Wren?” Maxson asked.

“No. That-” he swirled his hands, gesturing to his outburst “-has been brewing a while. Wren’s just the catalyst.”

They sat in silence; Evans calming himself down and Maxson debating his words.

“Fuck them,” he finally said, softly. So soft, that Evans thought he might have misheard.

“Excuse me?”

“You're right... So what do I do now?”

Evans beamed, “whatever the fuck you want! Throw a party, get drunk, take the Prydwen for a joyride!” Maxson’s glare reminded him of his actual goal. “Or… do what you were doing before. Just talk to Wren, get to know her and see where things go. But maybe be a little bit careful to keep things quiet, if only for Wren’s sake…” Maxson nodded and Evans raised his glass, “fuck ‘em.”

“Fuck them,” Maxson agreed, clinking his glass against Evans’ before they downed the liquid in unison.


	16. Chapter 16

For anyone who might still be following this story, I haven't completely given up on it but it won't be updated for the foreseeable future. 

I've been trying for the past nine months to get back into it and reignite the passion for the story I wanted to tell, but I've been struggling.

I still have a few chapters in my drafts and I do fully intend to finish it at some point, I'm just not sure when.


End file.
